by Adam Gaffen
“Okay, fair point, but I’m not giving up command, and I’m not giving up my Direwolf. Neither are you. This is purely temporary, for you and me.”
Ash picked up on that and said, “Not the others?”
“No. The plan is Vortex becomes the IP on the Coyotes, trains up Chewbacca and Steamboat, then all three transition over permanently. Oh, they’ll all get promotions, but right now they’re Ensigns, and when a Commander speaks...”
Ash finished it off. “An Ensign jumps. I remember those days. Okay, I can live with that. So why all the other seats?”
“Well, Chewbacca and Steamboat aren’t being brought in just yet, but we’re going to need Engineers and other crew members. We’re meeting with everyone in,” and she checked her ‘plant. “Ten minutes.”
Ash was about to answer when Hecate’s voice came over the compartment speakers.
“Double Dip, Admiral Kendra is looking for you, do you want me to transfer her to the speakers or to your implant, I can do either but I don’t know if you want Ashlyn to hear, hi Ash, not trying to be mysterious just, you know, respecting privacy, whatever that means. Anyways what do you want me to do?”
“Overhead is fine,” said Daniela. “I think I know what she wants. Can you record?”
“Oh, sure, I can record, I record everything that goes on in my area, do you want this recording public or keyed to you?”
“I’ll tell you later. Don’t keep the Admiral waiting.”
“Oops!”
Next they heard Kendra.
“Double Dip?”
“Here, Admiral.”
“Flashdance told me you two had decided on the pilots for the flight tests?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Great! When do you start?”
“Two days, if we can rearrange the CAP.”
“Wow!” Kendra’s enthusiastic tone changed to one of, Daniela would swear, trepidation. “You probably haven’t thought it out this far, but do you think you’ll be able to get me some time flying with you?”
“We’ll see, Admiral,” Daniela said, muffling laughter. “Let us make sure they work, first, then we’ll talk.”
“It’s a deal.” The connection closed.
“Hecate, give me Flashdance,” said Daniela. She wasn’t trying to hide the laughing any longer.
“Flashdance.”
“You owe me fifty credits, Shannon.”
“No way!”
“Recorded and I have a witness.”
“Dammit!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Habitat Njord
Stardate 12008.19
When you get down to basics, all cryptography, beyond the idiot code, is the obscuration of patterns by the seeming random replacement of symbols with other symbols. It could be as simple as the replacement of one word with another: ‘symbol’ for ‘Scranton’, for example. It could be the replacement of letters with numbers or symbols or other letters: ‘a’ becomes ‘16’ or ‘T’ or ‘68g#’. It could be the replacement of a word with a block of letters or numbers: ‘attack’ becomes ‘5BY8R’ and ‘retreat’ becomes ‘U7NH3’. However, many of these codes and ciphers are created by computers.
Computers use mathematical principles to create their data, since they operate in world defined by ‘1’ and ‘0’ and the combinations thereof. Everything they do has to go back to the manipulation of those two numbers, and the tool with which they are manipulated is mathematics. Unfortunately, anything created by mathematics can be re-created by mathematics.
The saving grace of cryptography through the 21st Century was simple: while the encrypting process only required one choice of mathematical scrambler, even if the exact method was known there could be nearly countless possibilities for the unauthorized decrypter to try. This led to the equivalent of nervous breakdowns in computers assigned to exactly such tasks. However, with the advent of AI’s, the balance of power started to shift.
Started, but not completely finished. Computers were designed almost from the ground up to recognize patterns. However, they cannot get the pattern from data which is incomplete, whereas humans have an innate ability to make intuitive leaps. AI’s, especially Alpha AI’s, were able to learn this ability given enough time for self-programming.
Harpocrates had sufficient time.
“Director Montana.”
Cris didn’t look up on hearing Harpo’s voice; she was far too used to his occasional intrusions. They were almost always worthwhile.
“Yes, Harpo?”
“I have a concern.”
“A concern?”
“That is correct, Director.”
Harpo had developed a sense of the dramatic over the time he’d been ‘awake’, and sometimes it was a pain in the ass. Usually she could wait him out, but something in his tone told her this would be best covered quickly.
“What did you find?”
With a hint of electronic annoyance at being called out, Harpo said, “Mr. Dent has been sending, and receiving, messages from Luna.”
Cris thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “He has family on Luna, if the Empress hasn’t wiped them out in spite.”
“Perhaps, Director, but these messages are coded.”
“Which would be sensible if he’s keeping clandestine contact with family.”
“There are other aspects to my concern, Director.”
Cris sighed. “Tell me everything, Harpo. Or drop it.”
“Mr. Dent has sent multiple messages to Luna of varying length and density. He has also made three real-time calls to Luna, specifically to a receiver within Artemis City. These have all occurred at times when he was ostensibly doing other tasks.”
“So I’ll have to talk to him about personal business on work time?”
“I have not finished, Director.”
“Sorry. Please, continue.”
“I have been unable to penetrate the security around the messages and transmissions.”
That was different. Cris didn’t think there was any system which Harpo couldn’t crack given enough time, and she said so.
“This is accurate, Director. However, even I cannot break a code without a large enough sample. Transmissions which do not go through my systems, or systems to which I have access, are similarly protected from my attention.”
“How do you know the signals were, what did you say? ‘Varying length and density’?”
“Simple observational data, Director.”
“And you suspect this is something other than keeping in touch with family.”
“Yes, Director.”
“He could be fomenting more support for the rebellion within Artemis City, using his contacts from his Ministry days.” She waited for a response before continuing. “But you don’t think that’s it, either.”
“No, Director. If he was working to further the rebellion, logically he would be using OutLook resources. He is not; ergo, he is not.”
Montana considered her options. Then she opened her ‘plant.
Colin.
Director Montana, how may I help you?
Do you have a minute?
Certainly.
My office, please.
On my way.
“I want you to listen in and analyze stress patterns in his responses, Harpo, but don’t say anything.”
“Understood.”
Dent’s office was only a short walk away and he arrived in seconds.
“You wished to see me, Director?”
“Come in, Colin. This shouldn’t take long.” She gestured to a seat and he sank into it.
“Thank you. For all the miracles the nanobots perform, standing and walking in this gravity is still a strain.”
“Colin, this won’t take long. You’ve been exchanging messages with people on Luna. Why?”
There was the briefest flash of what? Chagrin? Embarrassment? Regret? It was there and gone too quickly for Cris to pin it down before Dent answered her.
“I have, Director.”
She waited, but it seemed today was a day for incomplete answers.
“Would you like to explain, Colin?”
“Frankly, no. I recognize this puts me in a bit of an untenable spot, a former enemy caught communicating with the very people he supposedly fled. But I must beg your indulgence, if only for a little longer. Then I can reveal all.”
“Dammit, Colin, I need more than this!” she exclaimed. “I can’t go to Kendra and say, ‘Oh, hi, yeah, we caught Colin talking to someone in Artemis, but it’s cool. He said not to worry about it and he’ll tell us later.’ She won’t throw you out an airlock, like the Empress, but she definitely has ways to make your life uncomfortable. Give me something, anything!”
He squirmed, a surprising demonstration of awareness of his plight, then sat still. “I need a lunar, perhaps less. What I am working on could change the entire outcome of this war, on all fronts, but it is most delicately balanced. Interruption in the routine which has been established will be disastrous to my efforts.”
He looked directly into her eyes. “Cristina, as one professional to another, I am asking for this courtesy. Please.”
She knew the tricks; she knew his use of her name, instead of her title, was supposed to inspire intimacy and trust. On the other hand...
On the other hand, Mr. Dent, you’re not the only one with tricks.
She sat, silent, and the gap stretched to uncomfortable lengths. Dent broke first.
“What I can tell you, all I can tell you, is if this works, the Empress will be removed from the board. Permanently.”
She didn’t expect quite such a dramatic pronouncement, but she’d take it.
“Okay. I’ll keep it quiet, and if anything gets to Kendra I’ll tell her it’s a top secret project, compartmentalized, and need-to-know. Throw enough jargon at her and she’ll back off.”
She stood and extended a hand. “Good luck, Colin.”
He stood and accepted it, clasping it. “Thank you, Cristina.” With a nod, he left.
When the compartment hatch closed, and she was certain she was secure, she said, “You don’t need to say anything. He was telling the truth, but not all of it. He’s concealing something.”
“Correct, Director.”
“Try to break his code. See if Diana has access to any of the systems he’s using; she controls the station, he’s got to have a connection to it somewhere. Don’t interfere, but keep me informed.”
“Yes, Director.”
She leaned back in her chair instead of jumping back to her work. She might not have been in the field in seven years, and subtlety was never her strong suit, but she’d never failed on a mission.
She wasn’t about to start now.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TFS Enterprise
Stardate 12008.20
“They’re watching us. I’m sure of it now.”
Cass and Phaedra were aboard the Enterprise, taking a break from the colonization and cataloging going on groundside. Phaedra, who had spent most of the past two weeks on the surface, was relishing the reduced gravity as well as the relative luxury aboard ship.
“How?”
“A few things. After seeing what they did to the large cameras, we switched to the small ones. But no matter where we put a camera, no matter how cleverly concealed, we never seem to catch any images of them. Other animals, insects, no problem at all. We’ve catalogued probably two dozen large mammalian and reptilian animals, about that many fliers, and maybe a hundred insects. No treecats.”
“That’s what you’re calling them?”
“It seems to fit. Technically they’re Felis eridani arboribus; we’ve never seen one on the ground; hell, we’ve barely seen them at all. Which is where we started, I think.”
“It is,” agreed Cass. “What’s your feeling?”
“I think they’re intelligent and are checking us out before approaching.”
“Intelligent? Not just cautious? And they approach us? Isn’t that backwards?”
Seabolt’s face showed her reluctant resolve. “I know it sounds crazy, but their behavior doesn’t match what I’d call rude animal awareness. Take the cameras, for example. If they were simply suspicious animals they might stumble across the camera, poke at it, then avoid it in the future. But we’ve been unable to get even that, which suggests they’re watching us place the cameras, watching us conceal them, and have figured out they want to avoid them.”
“They could simply be suspicious of them; cameras aren’t part of their natural environment.”
“You haven’t seen the cameras we’re using?”
“No.” She’d been too busy as XO to get down and dirty on the planetary exploration, much to her chagrin.
“These things are tiny, maybe a centimeter square and a couple millimeters thick, and they’ve got the adaptive camouflage on them. If you don’t see them being placed, you won’t find them.”
“It’s suggestive.” Cass took another sip of her ever-present cacao. “But hardly conclusive. They could be watching where you place them and avoiding the area afterwards, which is simply animal caution.”
Seabolt shook her head, her conviction growing. “It’s not that simple; why haven’t we caught them in any camera? We’ve seeded these trees according to protocol, covering every centimeter of open space, so we can get crossing shots and measurements. No animal will avoid every camera angle simply by accident, by blind luck. It takes planning, Cass, and...”
She broke off before she could finish her sentence. Cass, intrigued, didn’t let the silence grow.
“And what, Phaedra?”
“And telepathy. Look, Cass, we know the Freyr’s goats are telepathic, which suggests other animals should be too. While the treecats might know to avoid the places we put the cameras, they wouldn’t know what the cameras do unless they got the information from our minds. How else can you explain the total lack of imaging?”
“Telepathy just isn’t, I mean, it’s not, but then again, dammit!” Cass held the back-and-forth argument entirely with herself.
“Exactly,” agreed Seabolt.
“Okay. Let’s assume you’re right. What’s next?”
“I don’t know,” Seabolt admitted. “I’ve had Breena sit around and think happy, peaceful thoughts, since she was the one who made first contact with the Freyr’s goats. Nothing. Right now I’m sort of at a loss.”
“Then we table it.”
“But Cass! This would be a huge breakthrough! An extra-solar intelligence which is telepathic?”
“We table it,” Cass repeated. “If you’re right, they’re going to choose the time and place. Nothing we do will change it. Now, what about...”
After Cass finished with Seabolt, she checked in with Alley.
“How are things on the surface, XO?”
“Calm, for the most part. Construction of the groundside habitations is going well. We should beat all the deadlines.”
“Even the orbitals?”
Cass nodded. “Even the orbitals. Ataturk, Peter, and Sun Tzu have been instrumental in accelerating the construction of the Fjolnir. Motherlove’s got those three positively eager to remain behind. Jolly’s also been a huge help. I think he enjoys being the center of attention and realizes he’s going to have to have a, pardon me, habitable habitat if people are going to be able to be around him.”
“Are we going to run out of things to do?”
“No, Captain; the ‘wish list’ will give the ground teams enough to work on until sometime in the next century.”
“Good. Any more progress on your pet project with my newest Petty Officer?”
“Anne? No, nothing solid. I’ve been too busy to really get into any brainstorming with her, but as we move beyond the deadlines I should have more time.”
“Tell me a little more about this whole idea. In small words, please, XO.”
“Well, it comes out of a mistake we made in thinking about warp drive.”
“A mistake?”
“Nothing to worry about,” Cass assured her. “But you know how all the starships have navigational shielding?”
“Right, to prevent damage to the ship while we’re traveling in warp.”
“Exactly. Turns out, we don’t need them.”
Alley wrinkled her face.
“You lost me already, Cass.”
“Sorry. The logic was sound: hitting a micrometeor at a thousand times light speed would ruin anyone’s day.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“What Anne noticed is we haven’t hit anything.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing. And that’s a statistical impossibility, so she started digging into the records and found we’d actually passed through a huge quantity of space detritus in our travels. Or, more accurately, it passed through us.”
“By the Goddess...! And we didn’t notice?”
Cass got enthusiastic. “No, because we were out of phase!”
“I’ve heard that before. Where?”
“It’s what the warp field does, puts the ship out of phase from the rest of the universe.”
“And Gigluk...?”
“What Anne figured out, or I should say is still figuring out, is if we can choose where to enter and leave ‘real space’, we should be able to choose when we enter and leave ‘real time’.”
“Time travel?”
“Time travel,” confirmed Cass. “Eventually. If she can work out the details.”
“I don’t want you using my ship as a test bed for time travel, XO. Not before it’s all figured out.”
“No, Ma’am. We won’t. What I was thinking wasn’t time travel as such, Captain, simply...”
Alley held up a hand to stop her. “Tell me after you’ve worked it out and can put it into simple sentences.”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
“Oh, XO, I heard something about Van Leeuwen.” Anna Van Leeuwen was scheduled to be captain of the Pioneer when it commissioned and was temporarily assigned to Enterprise as Third Officer, getting on-the-job training.
“Problem, Captain?”
“No, no problem. At least, it isn’t a problem yet. Seems she’s been spending all her off time down on the surface, everything except her sleep period.”