by Peter Kenson
***
When he left the Astrodome, the anonymous looking man headed straight for his cabin. For what he had to do next he needed both a change of clothing and some of the highly specialised equipment he had brought with him. He got away from the area around the bar and was nearly at the door to the cabin before he was challenged.
"Excuse me, sir."
The hail came from behind him. He looked round and found a steward standing at the corner of the passageway. He waited, trying to assess the potential of the situation, as the man came towards him.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm afraid the emergency is still on, sir. All the passengers are requested to remain in the Astrodome until the emergency is over."
He looked appraisingly at the steward: the man was about his height and build. This could be the solution to one of his problems. He became aware that the steward was beginning to look at him in a slightly puzzled manner and came to a decision.
"Uh, I.... I'm sorry steward. I needed some medication from my cabin. One of your colleagues back at the bar said that it would be all right.
"Well, he shouldn't really have said that, sir. But I guess it'll be all right, seeing as how you're here anyway. Which one is your cabin, sir?"
"It, uh.... It's this one over here. Perhaps you could wait just a minute while I get the pills. I won't be a moment."
"Yes all right, sir. Quick as you can and then I'll see you back to the Astrodome."
He unlocked the door and quickly went in, partially closing the door behind him. He made a rapid check around the room but it was exactly as he had left it; nothing had been disturbed. He stepped behind the partially closed door and raised his voice in a tone of shocked surprise.
"Steward, in here.... Quickly man."
As the steward pushed through the door at a run, he hit him with a single blow, below and slightly behind his left ear. Catching the unconscious steward as he fell, he lowered him silently to the floor. Then, with a knee braced in the middle of the man's shoulder blades, he took his chin in one hand and the top of his head in the other and gave a sharp twist, breaking his neck with a loud crack.
A check of the man's pockets revealed that his name had been Nicols. He stripped the uniform off the body and hurriedly began to exchange his own clothes for it. The uniform was not a bad fit but Nicols had not been quite as broad as himself and furthermore, his own clothes had been carefully tailored to provide special pockets for equipment and weapons. He had some difficulty in finding places to conceal this kit around the well-fitting steward’s uniform, and he piled the more impossible items in a heap on the bed. Then he took a small case, about the size of an attaché case, from the back of one of the cupboards and placed it on the bed as well. Rapidly but methodically, he began to go through the contents of the case, discarding some items and replacing them with ones from the heap.
When he had completed this task to his satisfaction, he snapped shut the locks on the case and placed it by the door. The surplus equipment went into the disposal chute along with the rest of his clothes. There had to be nothing left in the cabin that would give a clue as to its occupant. Nicols's body was a little more awkward. It could not be discovered in this cabin as it would automatically make him the prime suspect and he had no time to erase his records from the liner's computers.
Cautiously he opened the cabin door a crack and checked the corridor. It was deserted: the state of emergency must still be in force. He picked a door at random, further down the corridor and far enough away for there to be no obvious connection with his own. He went across to it and listened but there was no sound, so using the master key from Nicols's pocket, he opened it up and checked inside to see that it was deserted. Leaving the door ajar, he returned to his own cabin, lifted Nicols's body onto his shoulder and made the return trip at the best run he could manage under such a load. He dumped the body in the wardrobe and closed the door, as a final touch, welding the lock shut with his needle laser.
That should, he thought, buy him a little more time before the investigations began and by that time he had to be away. His steward’s uniform would allow him free passage around the Aldebaran but it was not going to be sufficient to get him off the liner. To do that he was going to have to join His Imperial Majesty's Navy, a risky move but definitely the one which offered the best chance of success in his mission. So, having come to this conclusion, the execution of the plan required that he spend a few minutes alone with a suitable member of the Cleopatra's crew, and they were currently spread all over the liner with the Search Parties.
First things first. He picked up the attaché case and headed for the auxiliary airlock. He gave the area around the Astrodome a wide berth and managed to avoid seeing more than a handful of the other crew. Those he did meet, he passed with a wave or a nod and hurried on before they could start a conversation.
He slowed his pace as he approached the corridor leading to the airlock and listened carefully at the corner. There were no sounds to be heard but he had not survived this long by taking unnecessary risks. He used a miniature fish-eye lens on a fibre-optic cable to peer round the edge and quickly withdrew again as he saw the armed rating on guard by the airlock controls.
He was not surprised to see the guard: the captain of the corvette had not sounded like a fool, but it had been worth a try. He used the viewer again to study the guard. He was dressed in full space armour, including helmet with the blast shield lowered. That would be a positive aid to his impersonating the man if only he could take his place but, unfortunately, the armour also meant that the guard was largely invulnerable to the meagre weapons he had available.
He thought for a moment. The guard was standing with his back to the airlock, facing down the short corridor, and cradling a wicked looking laser rifle in his arms. So, surprise was impossible and attack from a distance was not on because of the space armour. It would have to be bluff and gas, and hope that the man was feeling secure enough within the Life Support Environment of the Aldebaran, not to be using his internal air supply.
He opened the attaché case quietly and from one of the small compartments, carefully selected a small phial which he palmed, and two plugs which he fitted into his nostrils. Then he picked up the case and, head down, hurried round the corner to be brought up in feigned surprise by the peremptory challenge.
"Halt! In the name of His Imperial Majesty."
"Cor blimey. You didn't 'arf give me a start there. I weren't expecting to see no-one down 'ere. I thought you lot was all off chasing them bloody pirates."
"What's your business here?"
"Uh.... Oh yeah. I was told to bring this case down 'ere." He showed it to the guard and winked. "Seems like you got a passenger coming on board. A Princess, as how I 'ears it."
“Is that so? Well you just wait there while I check it out with Control."
Francesco opened a channel on his helmet communicator and called the Cleopatra, all the while keeping the laser rifle trained squarely on the steward. He spoke for a minute and paused, obviously waiting for a reply. When it came he relaxed visibly, lowering the rifle to the floor and raising his blast shield to reveal a friendly grin.
"Ok. Control knows about it. Apparently the Princess Nerissa of Serta is on her way down here. That hers is it?" He indicated the case.
"Yeah, that's right. I was told to put it on the shuttle."
"Launch," Francesco corrected him. "It's a launch. But you can't go in there. Leave the case here and I'll see it gets put aboard."
"Can't do that," he said, clutching the case to him. "I got my orders. I got to see to it personal, that this 'ere case gets aboard that shuttle."
"Launch," Francesco said again. "And I've got my orders too. No-one, but no-one, goes aboard that launch."
“‘Av it yer own way," he said. "But I'll just 'av to stay 'ere wiv it, then. You see," he leaned forward to whisper to Francesco. "It seems as 'ow this case is a bit valuable like. I mean look at this."
He brought his hand up
close to Francesco's face and snapped the phial, cutting his finger in the process. He swore softly and sucked at the cut as Francesco crumpled to the floor. He could not, for the moment, remember what effects the drug had if taken direct into the blood stream, but he popped a stim pill to try to minimize them anyway. The next task was to set up a couple of area alarms in the main corridor, one on either side of the corner, to give himself a few seconds warning of anybody approaching.
Then he could turn his attention to the unconscious guard. He knew that he would be out for at least half an hour but there was almost certainly less than that available before the boarding party started to return. In that time he had to get aboard the launch and alter sufficient of the ship's records to allow him to pass through the internal security checks.
Access control on board Imperial Navy Ships was normally achieved by a combination of visual palm print recognition and precise measurement of the body's bio-electrical field, both of which were "unique" in their own right. While Medical and Physical Science was sufficiently advanced for even this doubly unique combination of characteristics to be forged, it required equipment and expertise beyond that of the most skilful field agent. So, instead, the unfortunate Francesco was to be a large and rather cumbersome key. That was why he had only knocked him out instead of killing him outright. The bio-electrical field of a corpse would quickly degenerate and the "key" would be useless.
He tried to lift the body but quickly gave up in disgust. Naval space armour was certainly not as lightweight as its manufacturers liked to claim. He stripped the armour off and hid it in a locker containing some space suits. Lifting the now considerably lighter body onto his shoulder, he opened the airlock door and went in. The inner door cycled shut behind him; the pattern of status lights changed; and the outer door cycled slowly open to reveal the Li-Matsu connecting tube leading to the Cleopatra's launch.
As he hoped the outer door of the launch's airlock had been left open. He set Francesco on the airlock floor and went back to the liner to collect the attaché case. It was on his way back through the airlock for the second time that he knew he had trouble. It started with a sudden feeling of nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and a cold clammy feeling on the skin of his belly which spread rapidly across the rest of his body. That damned drug: he could remember the symptoms now. He popped another stim pill and felt the tension ease as the worst of the symptoms receded.
Back in the launch's airlock he set down the case and lifted Francesco to his feet. Holding the rating's arm by the elbow so that his own bio-electrical field would not affect the reading, he placed Francesco's palm against the sensor plate. The light flickered green for a second and then held steady as the airlock cycled. With the case in one hand he half carried, half dragged the unconscious body into the launch and over to the nearest computer console.
From the attaché case he removed a small box which opened to reveal a cut down keypad and a miniature display screen. He pulled out a cable from the back of the box and plugged it in to the universal connector on the side of the console. Then he lifted Francesco's hand to the sensor and the terminal flashed into life.
***
L/A FRANCESCO GALILEO
ENTER PASSWORD >
Francesco Galileo. So that was his name. He typed the name on the small keypad, flicked one of the function switches on the box and sat back to wait as it hunted for the correct password. The processor in the box was pre-programmed with the latest and most sophisticated search algorithm based on a statistical analysis of the correlation between a person's name and the range of passwords they tended to use. Even so the number of possible combinations was enormous and the computer automatically terminated the login sequence after every five password failures. Most of the time his search processor could detect a failure just as it was starting to occur and was quick enough to abort the termination sequence. But several times it misread the signs and the search aborted with the angry message
****************
ACCESS VIOLATION
****************
Each time he had to clear the screen by replacing Francesco's hand on the sensor and then hit the resume button on the box. It took over five of his precious minutes before the screen finally cleared and the access was complete. He called up the Help menu and selected Medical Records. Finding Francesco's records was no problem but attempting to change them threw up the next hurdle.
**********************
INSUFFICIENT AUTHORITY
ACCESS DENIED
**********************
He resisted the temptation to sigh. After all it should not be straightforward to ransack a naval computer system. He continued typing
SET OVERRIDES
and was rewarded with
ENTER OVERRIDES AUTHORITY >
He selected another function switch on the little box and settled back to wait again. The search took longer this time because there was no starting information to help the search algorithm. The password for the Overrides Authority would have been set centrally and so he had no name to enter. Another valuable eight minutes ticked by before the search algorithm threw up the valid authority code.
Hurriedly now, for time was running out, he inserted the little silver disc containing his own Medical Records into the slot on the console and started the update process. While he was waiting for the update to complete, he packed away the small box, its usefulness now at an end, and concealed the attaché case in one of the equipment lockers. The update process seemed interminable. As soon as it finished he retrieved the little disc and cleared down the console. Then came the ultimate test. He put his own hand over the sensor plate and the screen responded.
***
L/A FRANCESCO GALILEO
ENTER PASSWORD >
If the main computer system accepted him as Galileo then the Access Control system should also. He dragged Francesco's body back into the airlock, it could not be hidden on the launch, and this time placed his own hand on the airlock sensor. The airlock cycled and he lifted Francesco through the Li-Matsu and back into the liner.
Satisfied that he had no further need for a live Francesco, he killed him with a needle dipped in a rare poison from Linnayus IV and which was virtually undetectable except by very sophisticated tests. He could not, after all, leave a witness around to give his description after he had gone. He retrieved the armour from the locker with the space suits, replaced it with Francesco's body and again welded the lock shut to delay detection.
As he started to don the space armour, the second attack came. He popped another stim pill. Was that 2 or 3 he had taken now? He knew he must keep track of them and forced himself to concentrate as the drugs fought it out inside his body. It must be three, he worked out. That meant he could only take one more with any degree of safety in this short a period of time.
Fortunately the effects of this attack did not seem any worse than the first one and were already wearing off. He finished putting on the armour just as his wrist repeater warned him that one of the area alarms had been activated. Someone was approaching. He dropped the blast shield on his helmet and snapped into the alert position just as the party rounded the corner.
"Halt! In the name of His Imperial Majesty."
CHAPTER 20
David erupted onto the bridge of the Salamander in a flurry of commands which scattered the assembled officers. Simon stood his ground long enough to formally hand over command of the ship and then fled with the others to make preparations for immediate departure.
From the zerograv chute behind him, Crown Prince Gerald emerged with a little more caution and surveyed the room appreciatively.
"This is a very impressive setup you have here, Lord David."
"Thank you, your Highness. We are quite pleased with it. I had it designed and fitted out to my particular specifications. I'll take you round and introduce you to everybody in a minute. Meanwhile come and have a look at the tank."
"Can I first make some arrangements for m
y men?"
David stopped dead in the middle of the floor. "Of course. I'm so sorry. I should have thought."
He turned and led the way over to where Julia was working.
"Your Highness, can I introduce Julia, the head of internal security and responsible for the safety and comfort of all our guests. Julia, this is Crown Prince Gerald of Serta. He has a squad of Imperial Guardsmen down in the docking bay. Can you find some accommodation for them and get somebody to show them around?"
“Welcome aboard, your Highness. The arrangements for your men are already in hand. Sam is preparing a suite of cabins now and two of the girls are already on their way down to collect your men."
"Julia. Thank you very much. And thank you also for looking after my men."
"It's my pleasure, your Highness. I am having one of our special suites made ready for your use."
"Wait a minute," David interrupted. "Have Sam prepare the guest suite in my quarters. Prince Gerald and I will have some things to discuss."
"Of course, my lord. And if there's anything else I can do for your Highness, anything at all, just let me know."
"Thank you Julia. I will remember."
"Right, now let's see where that damn freighter is." David indicated the display tank in the centre of the bridge.
The display was already centred on the flashing red dot that represented the Palomar. Off in the top right hand corner of the tank, a cluster of green dots showed the Aldebaran and the ships grouped around her: Salamander, Cleopatra, Antares and the captured Rigellian frigate, Mastodon.
"Show me the Palomar's track, Sam."
A solid red line appeared in the tank leading from the group of green dots down to the red dot of the freighter.
"Extrapolate," David commanded.
The red line extended itself as a series of dashes beyond the freighter's current position, linking eventually with the white dot of a star system on the far side of the display.