The Commander grinned widely. “That was impressive Agent Avery.”
The man paid no heed to the remark but sat back down at the desk and requested “I would like to view the external monitor readings inside the wormhole now, if you please, Commander.”
After locating the information requested, the Commander sat and regarded this Agent: he wondered what an alien species would make of these Internal Administrators. Would they consider their cold and calculating demeanour to be representative of the rest of humanity? And would they consider this to be a possible threat to them? It was certainly considered a threat by the rest of the human race. Even though he deeply disliked the persona of the Internal Administrators, he understood and agreed that upholders of the laws were necessary, and he knew the reasoning behind the replacing, almost a century ago, of the old systems of policing and judicial punishment procedures.
All had been open to incoordination and corruption, especially after the unification of the Worlds’ populations; the enforcement of one set of laws and regulations for all was virtually un-policeable by the old systems, and so the Bureau had been created with specially selected and trained personnel who were deemed incorruptible as they were answerable to none other than the laws that they upheld. Their strengths being that they regarded wealth and possessions as negative ambition and therefore a probable weakness that would eventually undermine their roll as administrators of the laws that protected the populace. Thus far the system had been a complete success and all Agents had proven to be beyond reproach.
The issue that most people held, however, was with the sheer cold, calculating and mechanical way that they went about their business; which gave rise to many myths and tales of possible alienation, robotics and even the living dead.
The living dead, thought the Commander, Yes that was quite possibly the closest to the mark.
When he had finished his inspection, the Agent transferred all of the information to the main Bureau data system on Earth. Seeing the anxious look on the other mans’ face, he said “Please don’t worry Commander, I have only confiscated data relating to the mission; be assured that all of your personal data is intact and unviewed.”
After a moments thought the Commander asked “Agent Avery, what was Agent Andretta’s true function on this mission? It seems unlikely that Agents of the Bureau would be seconded to a venture by some civilian outfit just to look after their financial interests.”
“I have no knowledge of Agent Andretta’s mission, Commander, nor has any other Administrator; if we have no immediate concern then it is deemed ‘not our affair’ and the Agent is left to get on with it. For the most part we work alone, Commander which, no doubt, is of great relief to service personnel and civilian alike.”
“But there are three of you here today.”
“This is an extraordinary situation, Commander; seven personnel have died by causes as yet unknown; one of these people was an Internal Administrator. These causes shall be revealed, in due course, by Bureau investigation and everyone involved in this mission will face interrogation.”
“In my own defence I must tell you that I, on more than one occasion, advised for more expeditionary probes into the wormhole before sending in a manned flight; I personally did not consider that we were ready, and advised my superiors of my reservations.” Offered the Commander, aware that the people above him would try to ‘get from under’ by throwing someone below themselves to the wolves.
“Do you have this as transcripted evidence?” Asked the Agent.
“No, communication was always secure, making recording impossible.”
“There is no such thing, Commander; think back to your conversation with the Missions finance Director earlier today.”
This was a jaw-dropping revelation to the Commander who, throughout his career, had placed his complete trust in the knowledge that military communication was totally secure. He thought back to some of the communications over the years and the sensitivity of security that had been required, when all the time the Bureau had been monitoring everything. And, now that he thought more about it, these three Agents must have already been on their way here even before he had informed his superior back on Earth; no wonder these people knew everything about everyone: he decided to open Pandora’s Box.
“How does it feel to have so much power over people Agent Avery? And how high could you actually take your powers?”
“For the first part, power in human beings is normally associated with wealth and position which, in themselves, are driven by ego; since we have neither need nor desire for wealth or position our power is driven only by factual evidence, therefore we are deemed incorruptible, and justly so.
“To date this has always been the case; basically we are today’s equivalent of the policemen of earlier times, with the added powers to judge and execute sentence, thus eliminating the earlier problems of a possibly corrupted or compromised judge and jury. The power we hold is to determine a person’s guilt or innocence and then to act accordingly; not to determine how he or she should live their lives.
“As to the second part, there is no limit; anyone attempting to use their powers of position to thwart our investigations would be ill advised.”
“Anyone? What about the four members of the World Political Executive?”
The Agent repeated, emphatically, “Anyone, Commander.”
“And what if, for some reason, an Agent was to commit an offence, what would be your position then?”
“Anyone, Commander.”
“So you would consider someone like me to be a very small fish.”
“There are no fish of any size, Commander; a human being is one individual in a world of individuals and as such is as accountable for his or her actions as any other; the higher they climb the more careful they must become, or suffer the consequence just as any other citizen of Earth.
“If you have not committed a crime, whether it be physically, verbally, or morally then you have nothing to fear and shall not enjoy the pleasure of my company again. If, however, you are involved in a crime you will be questioned, judged and the appropriate execution of justice shall be meted out.”
“Execution of justice?”
“Yes, Commander, this can vary from Home arrestment to incarceration on the home planet or the ice rings of Saturn right up to the penalty of death and everything in between. And now if you will excuse me I must inform the new Commander that her quarters shall be vacant in thirty minutes: would that be enough time for you fulfil your duties here Commander?”
“Yes, thank you. But one thing more before you go, earlier you instructed the doorcom to my quarters which works on a voice recognition system, my voice to be precise; how did you do that?”
“Quite simply, it is necessary for Agents to have the key to all doors, Commander.”
As the Agent stepped outside the Commander smiled wryly at the thought that his replacement would be pacing the floor and torturing herself with the expectation of hearing the doorcom announce “entry requested.”
He was not wrong, for as the door to her quarters opened she began a tirade of excuses.
“Agent Avery, please excuse my behaviour earlier, it was inexcusable and completely out of character: I was nervous about the promotion and the short notice I was given. I had not been informed that you were on the station: I simply had no idea that you were working in the Commanders’ quarters.”
Agent Avery hadn’t attempted to speak throughout all of this but had stood impassively staring into the woman’s eyes: she realised that she had been rambling and had now exhausted her repertoire of excuses, and in the few seconds of silence that followed she feared the worst.
Then the Agent spoke, softly, “Commander, your new quarters shall be vacant in approximately twenty four minutes. I would like to thank you for your generosity in allowing me to complete my investigation and for your patience.”
With that, he turned and left her standing in the centre of the room staring bl
ankly at the space that he had vacated: from somewhere far away she thought she heard a voice saying, meekly, “You’re welcome Agent Avery.”
The journey back to Earth was uneventful and silent; the Commander, the three Agents and the seven deceased being the only passengers. Upon landing, the six dead service personnel were immediately claimed by Missions Control for cremation and ceremony with their respective families in attendance; all had been arranged.
Agent Andretta’s remains were quickly spirited away by Bureau vehicle to an undisclosed destination; her family would later receive a small wooden commemorative plaque. The accompanying letter would contain no details of cause of death, nor would it say where the death had occurred or the circumstances; it would state simply that the Internal Administrator had died ‘on service’.
The woman and the child smiled as they admired the small wooden plaque on the wall of their accommodation. The common feature they shared was the jet black coloration of the irises of their eyes.
Ms. Andretta spoke softly to her granddaughter, “Your mother performed her task well my dear; the project will have been put back twenty years or more, so perhaps in your turn you may also be successful, or perchance, your daughter.”
Glancing down at the recently-turned eight-year-old, she asked “Have you decided which field you may enter yet? Shall you follow me into bio-chemical Engineering? or will you follow your mother into the Bureau?”
The little girl, still regarding the plaque, shook her head and replied “Oh no gran, I shall enrol into the Pilot Academy, I quite like the blue/green insignia.”
The woman smiled contentedly, “Good choice darling, good choice.”
Agent Avery and his colleagues would find no further evidence from Andretta’s corpse; and were totally mystified as to the reason that there were no conversational logs on the ships’ database, not even doorcom requests. They were also stumped as to why there was no residue of, nor even sign of the perpetrator of the deaths.
They were not to know that the substance placed onto the seals of the Biohibernation units by Agent Andretta would immediately evaporate into the surrounding atmosphere once the covers were eventually opened by the inspection team, due to the pressure and temperature difference. The molecules had been absorbed into and destroyed by the lungs of the very people who were searching for them.
They did, however, when searching the Bureau’s main information interception facility, discover reference to the Commander’s advice to the Missions Finance Director not to proceed with a manned flight until more data had been gathered from the wormhole, and that this advice had been rejected.
Acting upon this evidence Agent Avery would later visit the Director unannounced, who would then spend the next two years of his life analysing and documenting space
debris within the ice rings of Saturn; the space equivalent to the old Siberian salt mines.
The Commander was enjoying his retirement, fishing by the old lake; this was where he always used to come for a few days relaxation when on leave; his father had first brought him here almost a lifetime ago.
Gazing up at the clouds he remembered one time when he was around ten years of age; he had looked up then and seen what he could only describe as a weird shimmering effect in a small part of the sky, as though a small cloud was moving slowly in opposition to the rest, but viewed through a slightly distorted lens.
He had pointed it out to his father who had grinned mischievously and said “Aw, it’s probably just some old alien trying to learn how to fish.”
They had both laughed at such an idea.
And then it was gone.
END
INTERVENTION Page 12