“Actually, so do I.” Sprout relaxed. “I had this subconscious fear that I had been trapped myself in a false position.
Have you had any luck recovering the backup I brought?
Was it of any use?”
Bernardo, who had joined them while Tina was talking, nodded enthusiastically.
“As you know we have quite an assortment of hardware available, so there was no problem in duplicating your landscape. Once it was recovered the AIs had no problem gaining access with the passwords you supplied.”
“And you were quite correct about the importance of the information.
There is enough bad news in there to freeze my blood” Harold added
“We knew they were up to something, but we had no idea how far advanced their plans were.”
“I just hope we are in time to do something about it?”
“Don’t worry, Joe.” Tina comforted him. “We know their basic intentions, and your help means that we have time to find out the exact details, what and where they are intending to do.
And we have two secret weapons.”
“Them?” Joseph Sprout pointed his chin towards the other new recruits.
“All of them! And you.”
*** *** ***
Having given them time for congratulations and welcome, Bernardo returned to the podium.
“Everyone please settle down.” He requested.
“This meeting is now concluded.
Thank you all for attending.
Those of you who have been nominated to be part of the training team have been notified. Please stay behind so that we can confirm your availability.
The same goes for the new recruits.
Once the training schedules have been finalized, you can have the rest of the day off to catch your breath.
Enjoy it, tomorrow we really start working.”
Darkside Station – Sublunar 1 – Earth Moon – 31st August 2035
“Good morning everybody!” Peter Panapopulos called the biannual meeting of the executive council to order.
“Welcome to Darkside Station.
We have scheduled this meeting here, onsite to the yards where our new ship is being built, in order to celebrate an important milestone in her construction.
We also wish to take this opportunity familiarize the members of this council with the layout and functioning of the ship, since many of you have not yet had the opportunity to visit this facility.
During this session we will be discussing and finalizing the plan for the next year, from now until the launch of the Tiamat.
We are honored today to have our two most senior members present, Kyril Kiriakos – better known to some of you as Abaddon, and Frank Eriksson whom some of us know as Hades.
Unfortunately one of our other senior members, Joseph Sprout is no longer with the organization. We believe he has been subverted by enemy action.
You have all received a copy of the agenda for this meeting?
Good!
Are there anything you wish to add to the agenda?
Ah! Pei-Ling.
Please remember that only matters pertinent to the execution of the plan should be placed on the agenda. Peripheral items may be discussed under the general heading.”
“Thank you Mr. Chairman. I believe this item is indeed pertinent. I am speaking about Japan and specifically the resurgence of the so-called white monks.
Their activities there have seriously impacted our efforts, and have had a major effect on industry in the region.
For all practical purposes, Japan is currently no longer a positive factor in our calculations.”
“Let it be so noted.
Anybody else?
Yes, Dmitri!”
”Da Ser Chairman.
I would like to table a motion to pull out of certain provinces in the Northern Cooperative. They are causing steadily more trouble than they are worth.”
“Thank you Dmitri.
Anything else?
No?
In that case, let us continue with the order of the day.
I would like you all to welcome Mr. Kyril Kiriakos, our chairman. He will address us on the current state of the organization, and his vision for the future.”
The tall cruelly handsome man, seemingly in his mid forties, smoothed back his steel gray hair. His smile as he commenced didn’t touch his eyes.
“Good evening lady and gentlemen.” He bowed slightly to Ling Yee, the sole woman on the board, as his eyes swept over the twenty six people assembled around the table.
Ling Yee, after Peter Panapopulos probably the most powerful talent in the group bowed coldly back.
“It is with great pleasure that I can announce that we are finally approaching a goal we have been working towards for the last couple of centuries.
Yes – we are finally nearing completion of our long waited generation ship, the Tiamat.
As most of you are probably aware, this ship will be used to start a new colony on the fourth inhabitable planet – Coatlique - we have discovered in the lesser Magalanic cloud.
The planet is ideally situated, less than two light days from Hell, our first colony.
By the time we are about three months away from Coatlique, a third colony will be initiated on Ragnarok, also about three light weeks from Hell.
The initial population will be taken from Hell, and will be fairly small, but we will be carrying sufficient peasants on the Tiamat to stock Coatlique and add to the basic population so established on Ragnarok.
This three populated planets, we will be able to create a confederation even at sub-light speeds.
We know for a fact that the enemy has never explored that far out, and based on their current activities, we should have at least another four thousand years before they start expanding that way.
So it should be at least that long before they will be interfering with us again.
When the meeting is over we will be going on a tour of the ship, which is currently in final fitting.
I am sure you will be impressed the facilities, both for cold sleep, and for the active crew.
Regarding the sourcing of a stock population, we have identified an area in the Ural, which has a population suitable both in temperament and numbers for our purposes.
We are initiating activities for the recruitment of suitable leadership talent, as well as preparations for a snatch to acquire sufficient numbers to establish a viable population on each of our target planets.
The area being used for these purposes has a sufficiently high technological index to be able to cope with the stresses of being transplanted.
We also have actions under way to create a diversion which will prevent the enemy from reacting to the grab, or from tracing or following us as we leave.
Initial loading of non-degradable goods is nearly complete.
Note that loading of degradable goods will start in approximately two months, as soon as the stasis chambers are completed and tested.
Live stock and bio material will start loading in five, and the first sleepers will board in approximately eight months.
We will be reviewing the various departments during the course of the meeting.
Firstly security. You were all required to go shield down with a security operative on your arrival here.
We regret the necessity of placing you in such an uncomfortable position.
This unfortunate turn of events has been catalyzed by the loss of our good friend Joseph Sprout to the enemy.
Fortunately any damage that might have resulted from his defection was contained by the fact that the new security programs were in place on the systems he raided before he left.
Please note that the new security software is compulsory on all organization systems. Each of you is responsible for its implementation in all departments reporting to you.
Which brings me to the second unpleasant point on our agenda.
All personnel will have to be examined by specially trained p
sychologists to identify potential leaks and enemy agents.
We will be extending our enforcer network to investigate each cell and department in the organization, in order to be certain that there are no further time bombs in our midst.
Please give them you full cooperation.
If you have anybody on your staff that you are doubtful about, rotate them up here – we will send out requests for temporary assistance, and let us take care of the problem.
Anybody who is confirmed as a risk may be quite safely accommodated in the primary cold sleep facility until we reach our destination.
By rotating them to a top secret installation nobody will think it strange if a couple of people were to disappear.
To all of you I can only say, it’s been a long haul, many centuries for some of us, but we are now nearing the point where we can without compunction leave these soft headed humanists behind us and start a real civilization beyond the stars.
I would now like Zipakna to bring us up to date on the progress of the ship project.”
He sat down and leaned back as the dark young man launched into his presentation.
Most of the details of the report he already knew by heart, as he did the other departmental reports which followed.
Then Peter rose again:
“Thank you, all of you, for your reports.
We have all taken cognizance of the problems identified by the departmental reports.
If you have any ideas which might assist us in solving any of them after we leave here today, please don’t hesitate to contact me immediately.
Any of your ideas which are practical and implemental in solving a problem which has been impacting our project, you will receive commensurate recompense.
In many cases the problem is a simple matter of manpower. If you have resources available that could be released to assist in the problem areas, it would definitely reflect positively on your position in the organization.
We will now look at the additional problems you have raised.
Pei-Ling, you have the floor.”
“Thank you Mr. Chairman. As you are all aware we have two problem areas in the east.
Taiwan is the preserve of the neutral group under Zjong-Li Kwan. They are obstructionist but not aggressive, but since he is related to Auf and L’ki, we have always maintained a hands off policy with regard to them.
Our biggest problem is as usual Japan.
As you know, Japan has for many years been one of our major sources of new technology.
We have carefully cultivated their technical and industrial growth under the Jakuzas, and they are currently supplying about thirty percent of our Ultra Hi tech requirements.
However there has for many years been a resistance to the industrialization.
This has now started to come to a head, with the resurgence of the so called White Monks. They have consistently been obstructing our efforts, especially in the provincial areas, but recently their influence has been expanded to cover the cities as well.
They are extremely difficult to locate, and expensive to eliminate. We have so far dispatched two full troupes of ninjas, to locate their headquarters and destroy it.
Contact was lost about three days ago, and it seems that both troupes have disappeared completely.
We have come to believe that the ‘Monks’ are followers of Apsu. He recently took over a splinter group from the enemy, who are pro human but anti technology.
The problem is that a lot of their tenets are compatible with the major Shinto beliefs still powerful in Japan. This has made it easy for them to recruit there.
In addition the young Emperor is strongly in favor of a return to ancient values, and is strongly supported by certain critical members of the government.
All attempts at containing the organization have failed. It seems quite likely that Japan will soon secede from the Asian Union.
We urgently need to make a decision regarding this situation, since it could affect the development of the FTL drive.”
“Is it already impacting our research?” Kyril enquired.
“Yes sir. We have been subcontracting three crucial chips through Matshushita and two power conditioning systems from Yoshimomoto.
“Are there no alternatives available?”
“For the power systems there is an alternative – an American company produces something similar but it is thirty percent bigger, and quite a bit more expensive.
The modulation control chips are a different matter. They are the most advanced of their type in the world.
The biggest problem is that they have a new hybrid production process that allows them to embed a biochip in the silicon matrix. This enables them to produce much faster neural networks in a much smaller footprint. It also reduces the heat factor.”
“Can we not license the process through say one of our Korean subsidiaries?”
“Unfortunately they are not yet prepared to license, there are still some glitches bringing their yield down.”
“I assume you have tried alternate means?”
“Yes Sir.
Unfortunately their security hardware is amongst the best in the world.
Combine this with one of the most efficient commercial security organizations in the world, and it tends to negatively impact the impromptu acquisition of technology.
We lost a full battalion of ninjas on that snatch attempt.
We also tried to buy two of their key personnel. They were not available. We then tried probing them. Both were shielded.”
“Shielded!”
“Yes. We tried several levels, without any luck. We couldn’t even find out who had set up the shielding.”
“Any chance that it might be mechanical?”
“We thought about that, but it doesn’t seem to be possible. Even the best mechanisms we have been able to create has always had a ‘mechanical’ feel to them.
However it was produced, it was not a natural shield. But it was not externally maintained, it was induced but independent.”
“Do you suspect that the ‘monks’ are responsible?”
“We are just about certain. It has to be either the monks, or the company has been infiltrated by the enemy which is much less likely.”
“Whichever, it sounds as if our hands are tied.
Maybe they should be on our list of diversionary activities.
In the meantime we will just have to find a front though which we can buy the parts we need – maybe you can initiate that from the states.”
Peter now took the floor.
“Thank you for a lucid description of the problem. I believe we all have a good idea of what is happening.
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