Easy Prey

by Stephanie Barr

  "We can't report it." Bryder hissed.

  "We have to!" Nayna couldn't even imagine how this could be kept quiet. She tried to escape the chair but Bryder countered her. He had a slight weight advantage and his position had more leverage.

  "You know we can't. You know why. If we report it, assuming communications are still good, what will they send?"

  "Troops…"

  "And what damn good will troops do? EMC7 and all the rest were devised specifically to deal with invasion. And, even if they could get in, they'll destroy it, destroy her, and the rest of the analysts will be sent for 'treatment' if we're not otherwise compromised. And that's best case. Worst case…well, you know what happens in the worst case."

  Her brain gave her the answer she didn't want to acknowledge. "They blow the Center to hell and start over somewhere else." He was right, of course. Bryder was often right even if he claimed he didn't know how. They needed to neutralize the situation or everyone was at risk, whether Elan would hurt them or not. But there was no provision to shut down EMC7 from the outside. The problem went in circles without any obvious solution. "You got any ideas?"

  "Yeah, find our top analyst and see what she can come up with."

  Nayna rolled her eyes. "How did you even hear about it? Who else knows about this?"

  "So far, no one knows, I think, but that might not hold much longer. I know because you assigned me to look over Belger's crappy-ass report and find what was wrong with it. I discovered it makes substandard toilet paper, which is as close to any use you could find for it. I was going to find him to tell him that and to start over so I didn't have to write it. When I asked his whereabouts, the system told me EMC7. When I went to demand he not get cozy in such a sensitive location, I found a distraught young analyst on the other side of the intercom, her mind in pieces and her body hyperventilating. I left her with a calming exercise but I don't think that's going to hold in the long run."

  Nayna's mind was concocting and rejecting options, but that distracted her. "Calming exercise?"

  "Told her to calculate the next twelve conjunctions between the Comet Aurolio and Planet Kenlen that happen while Kenlen is in the same quadrant as Lenlen. She used to be a pilot. It seemed to help her focus. But, if she is focused, I'm not sure that's making this any less dangerous."

  Nayna lifted a finger. "It might. There is a command sequence that can change the door lock from 'threatened' to all clear so that we could enter even if she can't leave on her own. If we can talk her into it, we might defuse this whole situation with none the wiser."

  "I didn't know about that."

  Nayna frowned. "It was part of the standard briefing, I thought." Not for the first time, Nayna wondered if Bryder were suspected of anything. Not that he was short of freedom, but he was such a wildcard, treating the rules as disposable at his discretion. Just like this situation. "Well, let's go see if we can convince her. If not, Comm2 is right there and there might be other things we can do to keep this from escalating."

  He'd already tucked her hand in his arm and was escorting her out. "I knew you were the right one to ask."

  Nayna glanced around but there was no one in the hall with them. "Anyone else would have reported it. As should I. We'll both be compromised if this isn't successful."

  "I have absolute faith that you will find an answer that does the least harm."

  Nayna shook her head. "Why did it have to be EMC7?"

  Bryder countered. "Why do they even have a control spot that can't be disabled? Bad planning."

  "That's what I told them, but they're so suspicious. They wanted one that couldn't be subverted in case the information has been compromised. 'What are the odds an infiltrator will use that particular one?' they asked when I complained."

  "That doesn't make a lick of sense. If someone is knowledgeable enough to use any of them, why wouldn't they use the one we can't disable?" Bryder counted.

  "That's what I said. They said they'd take it under advisement."

  They slipped into an emergency lift that could only be accessed with the retina of a top-level analyst. "Why did Belger even rate access? He hasn't been a top-level analyst for decades," Bryder asked.

  "My guess is his original clearance was still in a database."

  "Clumsy. We'll need to do a review. Through here?"

  Tucked between the two intergalactic comm stations, was an unmarked door with both retinal scanner, hand print and voice interfaces.

  Bryder gestured Nayna back and approached the voice-activated intercom. "How you holding up there, Elan darlin'?"

  "This is one of the stations where you can control everything in the Center, isn't it? I heard rumors but I wasn't sure." Even digitized, her voice sounded lifeless, as if she was in deep shock.

  Bryder closed his eyes. "Yeah, but it's not as much fun as you make it sound. And you don't have to stay there with a dead body. We can help you get out."

  "They'll kill me. You think I don't know that? They'll kill me or send me through that protocol again. I won't go. I'd die first."

  "We won't let them kill you," Bryder said at once, perhaps too quickly.

  "You know you can't stop them, even if you wanted to." Elan's voice had fallen to a dull whisper. "No one can save me. Just like no one could save her."

  "Elan!"

  "So why should the rest of you live?" Nayna knew—knew—Elan couldn't be talked down, or not easily and not without risking everyone. What could she do? Minimize the impact, stall for time, and find new angles.

  Nayna strode up to the intercom. "She's not dead!"

  Elan's voice suddenly came to life with outrage. "You called the ice queen? You might as well shoot me yourself!"

  "Elan, she hasn't told anyone."

  "And I'm supposed to just believe that."

  Nayna used the hand signals developed for pilots to communicate while in EVA in case of radio silence. 'Let me handle this.'

  Nayna wasn't an expert in facial expressions, but she'd guess Bryder's was a few steps beyond skeptical. So she tried his favorite line. 'Trust me.'

  Well, at least she had surprised him. When he nodded assent, reluctantly, she stunned him again by hitting the evacuation alarm. Claxons sounded and the overhead lights flashed red.

  "What the hell are you doing?" Bryder demanded. Elan echoed him half a beat later.

  "Now, only the three of us will be in danger. Even EMC7 can't override an evacuation code."

  "I knew it! She's going to have me killed." The emotion drained away. "At least, I will have peace finally."

  "Elan," Nayna said, after silencing the audible, "she's not dead. Your daughter, she's not dead."

  "You're lying! What do you know about my daughter?"

  Nayna held her voice calm. "I am not lying. You've never told me about your daughter, but I know."

  "She was a baby, just eight years old. A baby! They wouldn't even let me keep her!"

  Nayna couldn't say anything in sympathy. She'd never had a child. She'd never known a mother. Her mother had given her up as a baby to be raised in a crèche. This passion, the devastation, this agony she heard in Elan's voice, she had no idea how to respond, so she focused on reason. "I read your personnel file when you came on. Your daughter was sent for language training on Absug. She's not dead."

  "She is. They told me. There was an accident."

  'Fucking bastards. That must have been part of her conditioning,' Bryder hand signed to her.

  Nayna nodded. Why did extravehicular astronauts even need the word "fucking"?

  "Elan, if I can get proof to you that she's alive, will you come out? Bryder and I will think of a story that will placate the higher-ups. Something that will spare you any more conditioning."

  Elan said nothing.

  "Elan, I don't want to lose you. You're a good analyst. Good instincts, thorough. If I could set your heart at rest, wouldn't you feel better? Maybe even become resigned to your fate here?"

  "Are they taking care of her?" Nayna
had to strain to catch the soft voice.

  "I don't know. But I can find out. Will you give me some time?"

  "How much?"

  Nayna calculated. Tight beam could be established in twenty minutes but they'd need more time to find the daughter and put her on. "Give me an hour. I'll also give the evacuees an explanation so no one comes back in."

  "And you expect me to believe you?"

  "It's up to me to provide proof. If I fail you can kill us both along with yourself."

  There was a pause. Bryder looked at her with a single brow raised.

  "One hour. Not a minute more."

  "Thank you, Elan."

  This time it was Nayna grabbing Bryder's arm and dragging him into the intergalactic comm room, Comm2, after eyes and hands were scanned. "Bryder, I need your help."

  "What can I do?"

  "You're an agent and you get around. Do you know anyone on Absug? Yes I could call and request a transmission from Enna Peitt, but I'd have a hard time explaining why I wanted it. But, if you know someone…"

  "Do you think I know someone at every facility in the Empire?" Bryder asked sternly.

  Nayna raised her brows. "Yes?"

  "Well, I don't. But I do know someone at the training facility on Absug. What do you need?"

  "Live call would be great but a taped message to her mother and a recent photo would probably do just fine."

  "Okay. What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to contact our evacuees and give them an excuse to buy us some time. And then I'm going to figure out how to disable EMC7 in case we can't talk Elan out of there."

  Bryder, already adjusting the knobs on the transmitter, stopped at that and turned back. "I thought EMC7 couldn't be disabled."

  "Well, if they'd asked my input when they'd designed it, it could be disabled. But since they didn't, chances are they didn't think it all the way through. So I just have to find what they missed."

  "And that is why I came to you," he said, chucking her under her chin.

  "Yes, yes. Will you have a story to explain why there's a dead analyst in EMC7 and why no one has to be killed or put through conditioning over it?"

  "Absolutely!"

  Nayna sighed, feeling surprisingly relieved. "What is it?"

  "I didn't say I had a story now. Stop distracting me." And Bryder turned his attention back to the transmitter.

  Nayna used the shortwave to contact the Center Director outside the Center and explained that there was a spill of radioactive material. It wasn't as large as she'd first feared so she could get it cleaned up with some remote-controlled maintenance units, but she wanted to find out how it had leaked to ensure there wasn't another issue before she let others in.

  The Center Director agreed at once as finding it quickly—and quietly—and safing it might keep her from having to report it further up the line. And the fewer that knew about it the better.

  Fortunately, Nayna had happened on a spill some several months previously in an underused part of the Center, when she'd looked for some outdated records. She'd taken care of it in much the same way she'd described to the Center Director without reporting it and put the waste in restricted storage, so she had all the evidence she needed already.

  With any luck, she'd pin the cause on the dead analyst in EMC7.

  At a secure workstation, Nayna checked the emergency command system. Nominally, the whole Center schematics were not something she could delve into; however, the EMC system was intended to provide top personnel—and that included her—recourse in case of emergency, so the schematics for that system were available.

  Enabling and disabling methods were as advertised for the other command modules, with no overt disabling mechanism in place for EMC7. Systems, other than the disabling ones, were intended to be invulnerable: redundant, fail-safe, isolated from access for tampering, isolated software with no commonality or communication. Control came from command signals, not software interactions.

  However…

  Bryder had finished with his message. "You've got something," he said as he turned back to her.

  "Maybe. How did you know?"

  "There's that look in your eyes. Watcha got? It's going to take a bit before I can get an answer, if I can get an answer. They're looking for my friend now."

  She pointed to the schematic on the screen, but he was focused on her face. She hoped she wasn't blushing. "One of the reasons EMC7 is considered invulnerable is that it's tied directly to the main power bus with no way to interrupt it. The main power bus also powers everything else in the Center with a large generator. There are secondary power buses capable of handling the load in case of emergency with their own power supplies, but it's pretty stable."

  "That's not sounding like much of a plan."

  "The other emergency control points all have a single point where they can be isolated from power, but EMC7 doesn't."

  Bryder gave her his half-smile and motioned her to move along. "I'm still not hearing a plan and we don't have much time.

  "Right, well, we can't disconnect EMC7 but what happens if a high-power system has a sudden drop in loading—a huge drop in loading?"

  "Honey, I'm a spy, a pilot and a political analyst. I didn't learn everything about electrical systems except what I need to run my ship. Why don't you just give me the punchline?"

  "There is usually a voltage spike, a big one when that happens. Now, some systems are designed to handle that if they'll see if often, but the EMCs were installed after the fact in the Center, when there was already a huge loading in place. I doubt they were equipped for it."

  "Wait wait, don't most high-power systems adjust for that?"

  Nayna raised a brow. "I thought you weren't an engineer."

  Bryder shrugged. "That's important in ship systems where we run off batteries and can be exposed to cosmic storms."

  "These systems do compensate, but not necessarily right away. Low impedance solid state power supplies respond very quickly. But this is an old generator, bet it will take half a second, maybe longer to react and you could see spikes upwards of 400 volts."

  "Enough to trash the controls in EMC7," Bryder said.

  "Or trip a circuit breaker and shut it down harmlessly, which is what I'm hoping for." She dug around in a maintenance cabinet for a tool kit. Ooh, and here was wire!

  "But, wait, if you can't isolate EMC7, how can you isolate the rest of the loading?"

  "The connection for EMC7's power is not accessible. The connection of the rest of the Center's systems to the power bus is down the hall." With a coil of wire over her shoulder and a tool kit in her hand, she left the comm room, only to have him pounding down the hall after her.

  "You're going to shut down the whole center?" he said, grabbing her arm so she swung around to face him. "Are you nuts? That's data systems, that's life support, that's the comm system I'm listening to for a follow-up message. You can't do that."

  "I didn't say I was going to. I'm going to move all those systems to the secondary buses at the same time. You won't even see a blip on your screen if I do it right, but there should be a damn fine power surge in EMC7. After it's disabled, I can switch it back. Now, go wait for your message. And trust me for once."

  He let her go sheepishly. "Don't you need the schematics?"

  Nayna raised both brows.

  "Oh, right, photographic memory. Good luck, then."

  The power room was dusty but well organized. Given the power surging through that she would be interacting with, she activated the air shower to clear it out.

  There were individual switches where they could remotely isolate this or that system, but what she needed was to isolate all systems, at once, or at least the big power draws, so she started installing bypasses for the systems to tie to a single switch, ensuring that she had the systems distributed to different secondary systems so no one system was suddenly carrying the whole load.

  "Yo, Nayna," Bryder said from the door.

  "What is it?" Nay
na asked without ever slowing. Only three more systems left to wire and she could undo her handiwork in fifteen minutes with no one the wiser.

  "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that Elan's daughter is alive as you said and I can get a real communication going with her and a recent photo. Unfortunately, can't get it for another forty-five minutes."

  "And my deadline ends in twelve. Okay, I want you to try to talk her down without it, Bryder. I'm going to turn up the gain on the outside intercom here so I can hear you talking to her. If she looks like she's going to snap and do something horrible, I'll throw my switch. If it disables her console, it should reset the door and you can get in with your credentials."

  "And if it doesn't?"

  Nayna smiled. "It's been nice working with you."

  Bryder looked at her grimly, as she sat there, wires in her hands, high-powered systems humming centimeters below them, her face probably streaked with grime. And then he smiled. "Oh, no, beautiful. No way we're done any time soon. I've got an awful lot to tell you and do to you and it's going to take more than twelve minutes."

  He blew her a kiss, a gesture she'd read about but had never seen anyone actually use. "You got this," he said with conviction, and left.

  Nayna shook her head, trying to focus on the rest of her task. Only Bryder could shake her concentration. When—if—Elan decided to act, she had to be ready.

  After the last wire was installed, Nayna manually turned up the outside speaker.

  "No, I don't believe you!" Elan was screaming now. Clearly the time alone had not helped her mental state.

  "You have to believe me," Bryder said with that sincerity that had worked its magic on Nayna herself quite a few times. "You can talk to your daughter, not a recording, in another thirty minutes. If you die now, if you kill us, you can't, and she'll be even more alone than she is now."

  "You're lying! If you were working for me, you would never have brought that soulless stooge, Nayna, with you. You're just buying time so the Empire can send their attack squad to take me out!"