by M. D. Cooper
Tanis chuckled softly.
Tanis took a lift through forty levels of station to the outer levels where the larger ships were under construction. The lift emptied out into a broad lobby on deck A8.9, just one level below the Intrepid’s cargo deck. Under her new security measures no lifts could directly access deck A9; they had to stop above or below and pass inspection before being allowed to continue.
In the lobby, stationed at a temporary barrier, were several TSF Regulars. Tanis hadn’t been certain she could get the additional troops on such short notice, but Sanderson had clout, or had at least anticipated her measures based on her file. Either way, several companies of regulars and a platoon of Marines had been moved up from Mars 1 to MOS and the perimeter was being established.
Come to think of it, having to organize the troops while Tanis shopped was probably what was irking her AI.
“Sir.” One of the four soldiers at the barrier saluted her as she approached. Tanis’s overlay showed him to be Sergeant Langlis. “If you’ll step up to the Auth & Auth.”
Tanis returned his salute and stepped up to the ID-verification system. She could sense Angela passing security tokens as she stared into the retinal scanner. The scanner matched the structure of her eye with what her DNA said it should look like as well as archived records. In addition to the tokens Angela passed, Tanis passed her own personal token as well as her hash, which the system matched with the encoded chemical signature in her bloodstream.
“Thank you, sir.” The sergeant and the other three men relaxed just a hair.
"Keep up the good work, Staff." Tanis nodded to the soldiers and made her way to the next lift. To the naked eye it would appear that having four men guarding a bank of lifts was woefully inadequate, but they were just the tip of the iceberg. She had evaluated their progress and the other security measures from her command link. Several AI and personnel had monitored all aspects of her person as she passed the point. Scan examined her bag and verified its contents. Several nanoprobes had also independently verified her identity before and after she stepped through the Auth & Auth. Chem sniffers had checked her out and even monitored her for mood alterations as she was checked over.
A hostile intruder would be met with a surprising show of force, more than just the four soldiers that met the eye—not that they weren’t a serious threat in and of themselves. The barriers were capable of discharging a shock capable of bringing a dozen people to their knees and nano was ready in the thousands to infiltrate a person and attempt to bring about a nervous shutdown. If those measures were not successful, two other things would occur. An ES barrier would snap into place and as a last resort the soldiers would discharge their weapons.
The most important thing was that the men didn’t pass her by just because she was a senior officer. She had seen that sort of thing happen too often and was glad that she didn’t need to have the talk with their CO.
She stepped into another lift for the quick trip up to deck A9.1. She was greeted by more TSF soldiers and another Auth & Auth check. From there the trip was very similar to her earlier entrance with Commander Evans. She did notice that some confusion was in evidence as shipments tried to pass through security, and kept herself busy as she walked by putting together reports on how to improve efficiency in concert with the new security measures.
After ascending to the crew areas of the Intrepid, Tanis called up an overlay of the ship’s corridors and followed the directions to her quarters. The ball wasn’t until the following evening, but she wanted to double-check the gown’s fit without the pretentious salesperson puttering around her. She noted that she was very close to the officer’s mess and her rumbling stomach reminded her that it hadn’t received sustenance since breakfast.
Tanis’s internal avatar stuck out its tongue at Angela’s. The AI shrugged and Tanis sighed aloud.
Angela didn’t reply and Tanis strolled triumphantly into the officer’s mess. She smiled to see that it had the familiar feel expected from such a place; a bit of wood on columns and the corners of counters. A salad bar adorned one side of the room and low tables were spread throughout. She pulled up a chair at a table near the entrance and called up the menu as a servitor arrived and poured her a glass of water.
A querying icon appeared in the upper right of her overlay and Tanis responded to the servitor’s request with the number for a BLT on toasted wheat bread. Mars had a burgeoning hog industry and its rings were the cheapest place to get pork in the solar system. Not that it cost to eat in the officer’s mess. The servitor informed her that the meat she would be eating was actually from the first generation of pigs raised in the primary cylinder on the Intrepid.
Two men in GSS uniforms were sitting at a table across the room from Tanis. They had glanced up at her when she entered; now their Links must have informed them as to who she was. They both rose and stepped around the empty tables as they walked toward her.
“Major Richards,” the taller of the two said. “I’m First Lieutenant Collins and this is Lieutenant Peters.” The other man nodded.
Tanis didn’t need their introduction; her security monitoring had told her who they were the moment she stepped into the mess. Collins was assigned to acquisitions and Peters worked in shipnet.
“Nice to meet you two.” Tanis nodded. They hadn’t saluted, so neither did she. The setting wasn’t formal, but it was still protocol. Her quick research showed that at least Collins wouldn’t be her biggest fan. He had already registered a complaint about the lengthened process for bringing items onto the ship.
The servitor slipped around the two men and deposited Tanis’s order in on the table.
“I suppose you’ve read my complaint about the extra processing time for materials coming onto the ship.” Collins almost echoed her personal wording. “I can’t tell you how much this is going to slow us down.”
Tanis smiled serenely up at the lieutenant. “I can. 5.6% if you follow the guidelines I laid out. My report also recommends that you hire three additional shipment processors which will lower the time increase to only 2%.”
“My reports show increases much higher than that.” Collins sputtered; caught off guard by her intimate knowledge of his operations.
“I’d be interested in looking at your reports.” Tanis turned back to her food. “Please attach them to the initial complaint about increased processing time and I’ll look them over.”
She took a bite of her sandwich and enjoyed its rich flavor. Neither man had moved. “Did you have something else to say?” she asked. “Anything on your mind, Lieutenant Peters?”
Collins looked at Peters, willing his friend to speak, but the man just shook his head. “No ma’am, I’m all set.”
“Very well then, if you two would allow me to return to my lunch.” Tanis took another bite of her sandwich as the two men turned and walked back to their table.
Tanis decided to disregard that comment and concentrated on finishing her food. The other two officers were still in the mess looking sullen when she left.
……………………………
“I can’t believe how many of these things are scheduled for the next ten months.” Tanis said as she and Evans entered the ballroom just off the VIP dock. The dock hadn’t been scheduled for completion yet, but the GSS had heeded Tanis’s suggestion that passing all the VIPs through the MOS first would increase risk for all parties. Additional workers and nano construction units had just managed to complete it in time for the event.
The ballroom was already filling up with dignitaries. Most were from Mars, but a few from Earth, Venus and even Callisto were present. Tanis’s overlay lit up with indicators representing all the organizations and corporations with dignitaries present.
“Quite the mix we have here,” she commented.
“More and more each time,” Evans said. “They all seem to want to get in on the Intrepid’s success.”
“What success is that?” Her dislike of having to be at a ball was making her deliberately obtuse.
“No one thought this project would get off the ground, let alone get built. The concept of a reusable colony ship seemed ludicrous, but with Redding’s new ramscoop actually passing trial runs it looks like the Intrepid is more than just a pipe dream. Now everyone wants to soak up the glory for every little nut and bolt their company made or shipped.”
“Reasons why I want to leave this crazy system,” Tanis sighed.
“I imagine a lot of us feel that way,” Evans said. “Just another year or so of this mess and we can leave it all behind… Provided we don’t get blown up.”
“Isn’t going to happen. I don’t know exactly why the admiral picked me for this, but I do know it’s my one shot to get out of this system. No way I’m going to blow it.”
Evans laughed and the sound was rich and deep. “Sounds like you want to get out of Sol as much as the rest of us.”
“You said it.”
“Did I mention how glad I am to have you take over all this?” Evans said as they approached the bar.
“You actually have said it already, about nine times today.” Tanis smiled as the automaton poured her a drink, having read her preferred list of beverages from her public profile.
“I know, but it can’t be said enough. We’ll be a hundred years into our flight and I’ll still bring it up.” He turned his rather infectious grin her way.
It was Tanis’s turn to laugh. “Please don’t, that would get really old.”
While the Intrepid had three large ballrooms, all done in different styles, tonight’s affair only used the room decorated in twenty-ninth century European trappings. The primary motifs and accents were hard angular surfaces in blues and greys.
The guests, on the other hand, were a riot of color. The civilian women wore dresses similar to Tanis’s, but were showing a lot more of their skin. Marsian men could be spotted by their green and blue suits and the men from Venus wore all black. Terrans were easy to spot as well, due to the resurgence of fashion hats on Earth. In Tanis’s opinion most of them looked like peacocks.
Clustered in a few groups throughout the room were various military representatives. The TSF officers were grouped together near the other end of the bar, though none had approached Tanis and Evans. The MSF had a few men and women present and Tanis spotted Commander Gren in their midst. The only representative of the MOS Sec was their commandant, who was hobnobbing with some businessmen from Mars.
The GSS officers, being more of a semi-federal navy and far more political than the others, were more intermingled. Mostly they had latched onto ambassadors and other diplomats.
A group of envoys from the Thripids, a Kuiper Belt combine, entered the hall. Tanis had overseen several missions out in the KB and had worked with Thripids before. They were one of the Sol system’s more unusual groups; men and women alike wore unusual gowns laced with circuitry and sensors. Net rumor had it that they were almost entirely cybernetic—little humanity showed in their impassive faces.
Not long afterward Admiral Sanderson and his aides stepped into the room. Sanderson surveyed his surroundings as though this was his own personal kingdom. Tanis still hadn’t made up her mind about him, but at least he had approved all of her security measures with minimal comment.
“You’d think he owns the place,” Evans said quietly, echoing Tanis’s thoughts.
“Every operation has an old man or old lady. He’s ours.”
“That he is.” Evans took a sip of his drink.
Tanis checked over the security teams that were monitoring the maglev station that connected the series of ballrooms off the VIP dock with the rest of the ship. So far no guests had tried to venture beyond that point. Captain Andrews was leading a tour later in the evening, but aside from that the guests were restricted to this relatively small area. The other team was monitoring the dock and had reported no problems. Every guest had been on the list and their Auth & Auth checks passed muster.
“The Reddings are due tonight.” Evans watched over the rim of his glass as the admiral made the rounds. He would inevitably end up speaking to them as they were the some of the highest-ranking officers present. While most of the local services had their fair share of representatives, they were still mostly on one end of the room. They may not always have gotten along, but they understood one another a lot better than they understood the civilians. The officers, mostly lieutenants and captains, were grouped together with a pair of master sergeants nearby. There were a couple of other majors on the Intrepid, but none were listed as being in attendance this evening.
“Enfield is too.” Tanis obliquely monitored the admiral’s route through the room.
“He is?” Evans’ eyes flickered as he checked the guest list. “He’s not on the list, not even on the maybes.”
“He’s already on the ship. They tried to sneak him on this morning. For some reason Sanderson decided not to let me know.”
“So how do you know?”
“One of Ouri’s people picked up a couple of irregularities and passed them up the chain. His security didn’t seem to realize that I have access to some databases that would allow me to ID their mystery guest.”
“Do they know you know?”
“They probably do by now. I left a security docket and nano-id in his quarters.”
Evans let out a laugh. “You’re just shaking things up all over the place.”
“I try.” Tanis allowed herself a small grin.
“I can’t wait to see this.” Evans had the automaton make him another drink.
Once he had finished his initial rounds, or perhaps when he simply wanted a strong drink, Admiral Sanderson made his way over to them. The two junior officers saluted him and he languidly returned the courtesy.
“Found your little joke in Mr. Enfield’s quarters.” The admiral’s voice carried no trace of humor.
“I don’t think it’s a joke,” Tanis replied.
“We go to all the trouble of hiding his presence and you announce it to anyone interested in the current roster.”
Tanis held back a sigh. She knew that Admiral Sanderson hadn’t told her about Terrance Enfield’s arrival because she hadn’t fully secured her department. However, since the admiral hadn’t thoroughly covered his tracks, things could have been worse as a result of attempting to hide him.
“If I may, sir.” She waited for his nod. “One of my net security personnel found the irregularities, which we kept quiet and reworked to remove their traces. If you check the shipnet you will find no trace of Terrance Enfield in any databases in regards to his visit tonight. We are also currently in a noise-canceling bubble, so no one can hear this conversation.”
Admiral Sanderson stared forward without blinking, what Tanis assumed must be his tell for accessing his Link. His features relaxed somewhat, but hi
s tone was still acidic.
“It would seem that is the case,” he admitted. “But in the future I would expect you to notify me of such things.”
“I will sir. With all due respect, as the head of security I would like to be notified of such visitors in the future as well.”
“It would seem there is no reason to hide it since you’ll find out anyway.” Tanis couldn’t tell if he was being petty, or complimentary.
“It’s why you brought me here, sir.”
Admiral Sanderson let out a short sound that could have been a cough or a chuckle. “I suppose that it is, after all. Andrews will be pleased; he expects big things from you.”
“I imagine he expects to have his ship finished on schedule,” Tanis said.
Admiral Sanderson nodded and didn’t respond as he retrieved his drink.
Shortly thereafter the Reddings entered the ballroom, in some ways exactly and in others nothing like Tanis would have expected. Earnest Redding, the visionary of the pair was the man responsible for the Intrepid’s advanced ramscoop engine. He was reportedly the typical mind-in-the-stars type, though this evening he seemed very much present as he shook hands and doled out pleasantries. His wife, Abby, was a nuts-and-bolts type. She was largely responsible for making realities out of her husband’s dreams. As the head engineer on the Intrepid it was her job to get the massive ship built and heading outsystem on time.
Admiral Sanderson must have sent them a message via Link as the pair headed directly to the bar.