by T J Bryan
Rob nodded and Helen spoke, "Yes, I like that. Let's also somehow inventory those chemicals so we can know if any goes missing again. The formal inventory records could clearly be tampered with. We need someone on the inside of the Guild and the Association who can watch that stuff. Any suggestions?"
The conversation continued for another hour as several members of the Association and the Guild were identified as loyal to the Commonwealth and in a position to monitor the chemicals. Abel asked Helen to coordinate the recruitment of those members of the Association and Guild into the watch for Arne's thugs.
Abel left the meeting and walked to the courtyard where the State Visitors Quarters had once stood. Clean up was continuing even this late into the afternoon. The Chairman had ordered the rebuilding of the visitors quarters and Abel knew that within three or four months the structure would be replaced. The wounds of the attack would last much longer.
Abel thought he might return to the hospital to visit Emmitt when an idea occurred to him. He walked swiftly up the slight incline of the courtyard toward the Hospital. Bennet followed a few paces behind. Abel entered the ER of the Hospital and looked at his inter-tab. It was almost 13:00 and he knew he would find Dr. Auber either in the ER or in her office. Abel walked through the ER, and most of the carnage of the previous morning had been removed. Patients had been sent to wards in the hospital or to the coroner in the basement. Dr. Auber was not to be found in the ER.
Abel walked up the stairs to the second floor and the doctors office and found her working on the vast amounts of paperwork needed to track every patients' progress or lack thereof. Dr. Auber looked up. "Ah, Abel. I knew you would show up. And now you are here."
Abel entered Dr. Auber's spartan office and moved toward a chair across from her steel desk. "May I sit?" he asked.
Auber leaned back in her chair, took a long hard look at Abel, and responded, "Yes. please sit down. And, No, I have no idea of how this happened. But I do want that madman removed from my world."
Abel decided that brevity was best. "Dr. Auber, who is your expert in nuclear medicine? The one who cooks up all those tracers you need for treatments of cancers and other vile distortions of life."
Auber appeared surprised at Abel's question. "Well, we have several specialists who work with our cyclotron down in the basement. But before I refer you to one or the other, I need to know what you are up to Abel. I know that you are not here to cure cancer."
Abel sat in one of Dr. Auber's most uncomfortable plastic chairs. For the first time Abel realized that the chairs might have a purpose in that they kept visitors from lingering too long in her office.
Abel sat and looked hard at Dr. Auber. The two of them had been through so much the in the last two years, but with the terror unleashed on the Commonwealth Abel's sense of loyalty had grown thin.
"Freydis, I need your help." Abel sighed. "I need a method of tracing the transfer of chemicals from one location to another, and I need to do so without anyone being aware of what we are doing. I thought nuclear isotopes might help. Chemical sniffers seem to have been eliminated as our monster Arne seems to have alluded our attempts to trace his chemical signature."
Dr. Auber leaned back in her chair. "So you think some other signature might help in finding these maniacs?"
"Yes," replied Abel.
"Well there are several possibilities for tracing. Of course, each has a half life, and to ensure they don't endanger life, we choose short half lives and chemical signatures that have specific attractants to human organs. For example radio-iodine we manufacture on our centrifuge for the detection of thyroid irregularities. It's safe to handle because the half life is so short. There are many others of course. But all involve some risk."
"Yes, of course there is risk." replied Abel. But that risk might be small compared to a bomb in the plaza."
"I agree Abel. What can I do to help?"
"Dr. Auber I need to track two chemicals. I hope to do so in such a way that common chemical sniffers are not useful, but that perhaps if they are dossed with nuclear tracers we might find them."
Dr. Auber replied, "And the chemicals are?"
"Sodium chlorate and nitrobenzene. There are a few others as well."
Dr. Auber reached for her inter-tab and thumbed it open. " Sodium chlorate and nitrobenzene. Well both will be challenging as they are very reactive. But if I remember my basic chemistry, which frankly I do not, then we may have a solution."
Dr. Auber worked her inter-tab for over a minute and then looked at Abel. "We can produce traceable isotopes for both these compounds. For Sodium chlorate the half life, just to be safe, will be nine hours. For nitrobenzene we have a longer half life at 18 hours."
Abel thought a moment. "So we should be able to track Sodium Chlorate for perhaps a few days?"
Auber laughed. "No, Abel, the half life might well be nine hours. But traces of the isotopes will linger for a long time. With the right detection equipment you could trace it for almost three months. Perhaps a long as five. And the nitrobenzene, well you could track that for almost a year."
Abel starred at Dr. Auber for a long time. "I need enough for tracing 1,000 kilos of Sodium and more than 5,400 litres of nitrobenzene.
Without even asking why, Dr. Auber picked up her vid-com and dialled up the nuclear medicine department.
Three nights later Teresa Knolls, a descendent of a long line of police officers, but one who had chosen to be a fabricator, slipped a small packet of solution into the vat containing potential explosive elements. Faro Ellis did the same at the Miners Association's fuel stocks. Both reported immediately to Dr. Auber for their annual check up. Both cleared as fully healthy.
Abel sat back and waited. Once again the war against Arne Thorgaut and his few maniacs was underway and time was needed to bring about a resolution. Only this time he would know where every bit of his bomb making materials went.
...
Narlanda - Destructor New Hildr - Year 3247. May 26 ET: 07:33
Farn found Nomi reluctant to visit planet side. Nomi seemed to have little interest in the EG and its' editors. 'Stupid' she had said, and Farn knew that when Nomi said something was stupid there was little that could change her mind. However when Aelia arrived Nomi gave her a moment of her time. Farn fully expected that Nomi would ask Aelia to leave, but Aelia had brought a sheaf of paper records and while Nomi indicated a hurried need to remove the papers from her presence, Nomi's eyes fell upon a single sheet. She stopped. Her view became intense."
"Who?" Nomi asked of Aelia.
Aelia replied, "Mollis Tergovian, a simple monk of the Aerolius system"
Nomi grabbed the other papers and quickly shuffled through them. Reading and then throwing them on to the deck. Then Nomi stopped and froze. Farn had seen this before. Nomi was calculating.
Nomi reached for the floor and picked up papers she had only moments before discarded.
Nomi spoke, "More. Have More? Below?"
Aelia responded, "Yes. Nomi we have many more of Mollis's notations."
Nomi turned to Farn. "Go below. Tergovian calls." That was all Nomi said to convince Farn that Nomi was needed on Narlanda.
Farn was in some respect concerned at the potential loss of her astrogator in Nomi if she decided to remain in Narlanda. But if she lost Nomi she felt confident that with Nomi's Book of Stars she could find her way home, even if it took a long, long time. Farn knew that Nomi had found something in Tergovian's writings, and that Farn could only support Nomi in her quest. Farn had become very fond of Nomi, in fact more than fond. Farn who had always been a person of action had found some odd maternal element in bunking with Nomi for over a year. Nomi needed Farn, and Farn found in Nomi's need something both comforting and disturbing. Farn had begun to feel her dedication to the OCN was powerful, but her bond to Nomi was different. There was something in her relationship with Nomi that transcended friendship, consort, or sisterhood. They were different but Farn felt is some way they were the same.
Nomi traveled below and into the depths of the Athenaeum. Farn felt that she was safe below, but her ever watchful eye did not abandon Nomi. John Beckley had accompanied Nomi and Farn felt that he would care for her. Just to be sure, Farn had salted both Nomi and Beckley with Marine trackers. Farn was taking no chances.
More than a week had passed since their arrival at Narlanda and Farn had taken several trips down to the surface to meet with Thucydides and other elders of the EG. Farn felt in no hurry to complete her mission, but she tried to remain true to Abel's admonition and to remain on the ship as often as possible. As much as Farn wanted to walk among the gardens, and farms, and shelves of a million books on Narlanda, she felt the need to remain on her ship.
The rotation became somewhat boring until a small ship entered the system from one of the more obscure entry portals to Narlanda.
"Incoming. Small ship. Less than 10,000 kilos. Low energy signature." called out Siggy Ivar from his pilots station.
Farn almost welcomed the distraction of an arriving ship to the Narlanda system.
"Full scan Mr. Ivar," called out Farn.
Moments later Ivar responded. "It's a funny ship. Not really a ship, but more like a container. Just a slow fusion engine on top of a small compartment with some guidance gear. If I were to guess I'd call it a 'postman'."
"Postman?" replied Farn.
"Yes, its' mass is to small for anything other than messages and information. And as we know information has no mass. It is very odd, but it's not very fast and it's not very threatening to anyone. It's carrying messages. That's my guess."
Farn, who had been standing, sat in her captain's chair. Incoming journals she thought. These must be journals somehow gathered up and then forwarded to the editors at Narlanda. Slow but steady Farn thought.
As Farn and the crew watched the postman docked with the Narlanda elevator station and moments later departed in the direction of the exit portal leading to Tomask System. Farn called up the EG once again to look at the entry and exit portals of the Narlanda system.
Narlanda was remote and had an astounding number of entry portals, but only three exits. Narlanda's planetary poverty, combined with her few exits, had doomed her to commerce, but her few exits still assured that she could be connected to the wider universe. That is, if someone was willing to take the time; for all the approaches and exits to Narlanda took time. Clock time. Wall time. And time was an element of physics that few humans or aliens for that matter had in abundance. However to the EG there was always time and more time remaining.
Chapter Seventy Seven
Jamon System - Chairman's Office - Year 3247. May 27: 15:45
"Yes Abel, I know we had no problems at the service for the dead. The whole memorial service went off without a hitch. But that does not mean we can get away with this again. Our citizens are crying out for more protection from that madman Arne Thorgaut. Simply being observant is not enough."
Once again Abel found that reason was about to be overtaken by the cries for safety over freedom. A police state would neither give the Commonwealth safety nor would it yield freedom Abel was beginning to realize the real damage that Arne Thorgaut had unleashed upon the Commonwealth. Abel also realized that Arne was more devious and considerably smarter than Abel had previously thought. The former Judicar had devoted his life to the Commonwealth and clearly understood, in his egotistical and psychopathic way, both the strengths and weaknesses of their democracy and their people.
Abel did however have one element of police work that he had kept secret. High on the temple steps, quite near the OCN memorial chapel, Bennet Nolo had uncovered a bomb. The bomb was small and probably intended more for intimidation than actual murder, but if detonated would well have caused panic. And in that panic, high on the habitat wall, many might well have died in seeking flight down the long and steep stone staircase from the Temple. That Abel had kept this a secret was known only to a few and Abel was anxious to prevent Arne from knowing they had found his terror package. Let Arne worry that the bomb was defective, or that his trigger man was weak, or that it had been discovered. All three possibilities only weakened Arne and caused doubt in what must be an increasingly paranoid brain.
"Bjorn," replied Abel. "We were lucky this time and eventually Arne will succeed in displaying his madness again. But we must hold to our principles. A police state is what that crazy bastard wants. If we crack down on ordinary citizens his Sovereignty Alliance will have a real cause from which to recruit the simple minded, the unemployed, and the failures in our society. No, we need to hold to our principles."
Bjorn stood and paced across the Chairman's office floor. He knew Abel was right, but he simply did not have the political clout to stop the Assembly from passing draconian restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly, and passage. The citizens were fearful and they demanded action.
As the discussion went on for over two hours Abel made some concessions to the fear mongers. He would add additional OCN security to the docks and to the civic center as well as to any public gatherings. However Abel knew that even if he combined all of the constabulary, the EmVac, and the OCN crews, there were simply not enough bodies to cover every exposure. In fact Abel's greatest fear was that Arne would simply strike at something easy, un-defendable, and critical. Several exposures were evident to Abel including the sewerage systems, the air recyclers, and the many hatches and air locks connecting the Habitat to the void.
In Abel's mind the only solution was to find Arne Thorgaut. His few followers would then disappear. Arne was the real threat.
Abel's meeting with the Chairman ended and neither was happy with the result. But they were both exhausted and Abel wanted to visit Hamza Lynn who was the Assistant Professor in Metallurgy at the Collegium. Abel had sent Bennet together with the disabled bomb components to Hamza for a careful examination and he was anxious to hear the results.
Abel entered the Collegium and climbed the stairs to Professor Hamza's office. The door was open and he found the Professor and his aide-de-camp Bennet reviewing the results of several tests.
Hamza looked up. "Ah, Abel. This is most interesting. This bomb you have found."
Abel though he should be shocked at Hamza's seeming removal from the horror of a bomb intended to kill dozens on the temple steps, but he soon realized that Hamza was a professional and was simply focused on the reality of the bomb's ingredients presented to him.
Before Abel could speak, Hamza began. "We have one kilo of explosive here. More than enough to cause panic, but not nearly the amount used on the Plaza a few days ago. I simply don't understand how anyone could remove more than 50 kilos of Sodium chlorate without anyone noticing. If I were to guess, I'd say this is the last of what that madman stole. Which of course means he will steal the stuff again or seek some other explosive combination. Arne is a coward and bombs are a coward's choice of weapon."
Abel stepped forward to examine Hamza's paperwork. "So you think he has used up all of what he stole in the last few months?"
Hamza thought a moment. "Well, Abel your the cop. But the production of most chemical stocks in any quantity requires consultation with the Collegium. That's not in my department, that's over in Professor Silvars' Department of Chemistry, but I know that he and his grad students have not been engaged in the production of more Sodium chlorate. So, If I were to speculate, I'd say that the crazy bastard has shot his wad or has only a small amount of the stuff left. If he wants to make a really big impression he is going to need a lot of the stuff, or some other chemical device, Given that he is a lawyer by training, and that his thugs are simple miners, I suspect he has few options for creating explosives. What you see is what you get."
"And any isotope signature?" asked Abel.
Hamza laughed. "Abel, I don't know what you are up to, but your question has intrigued me. But there are no traceable isotopes found in this sample."
Abel was about to leave after thanking Professor Hamza but turned. "You will
of course see to the destruction of these samples?"
"Yes," replied Hamza. "And as we have agreed I shall say nothing about our work. Just capture that beast and kill him."
Moments later Abel walked down the steps of the Collegium and toward the plaza courtyard. The sun was shining and students were crossing the plaza either late for classes or early for dinner. He decided to stop in at the Annex. His office had been made a shambles by the explosion but the main floor of the Annex with its' CTS simulators had been untouched. Abel entered the old basketball court and found several groups of students lined up for their chance at playing the game on the Combat Training Simulators. Abel, who was dressed in his OCN Admiral's dress whites, had tried to remain inconspicuous and held back at the rear of the Annex, but soon several students spotted him and saluted smartly. Moments later the entire room of waiting students, only a few of whom were dressed in OCN uniforms gathered about and saluted. One student in his dress whites. with gray stripes on his lapels indicating that he had yet to pass his certification exam. stepped forward.
"Admiral Stoneman. It is an honor to have you here."
Abel who was never comfortable with military protocol or even saluting nodded.
"May I introduce myself and my companion here." The young man who might have been only sixteen years old nodded toward a young woman of about the same age. "I am Fairmont Holgata and this is my twin sister Lilly."
Abel was struck by the mention of the Holgata name. He knew that John-Paul Holgata had never married and that these two must be niece and nephew or close relatives. Abel looked carefully at the two young persons and the family resemblance was clear.
Fairmont Holgata continued, "I know that my uncle was an odd man, but we are proud to bear the Holgata name. Both Lilly and I."
Abel thought a moment. "Well, Lilly and Fairmont, I am pleased to meet you. Your uncle was a fine man, a brave man. He worked very hard to overcome his limitations, as all of us must try to do, and he served our Commonwealth with his last full measure of devotion. I only knew John-Paul for a short time, but in that time, he decided to ferociously concentrate on what he thought important, and serve our Commonwealth. I was convinced by his focus and devotion to our cause. I only hope that you two can, with all your efforts, measure up to your uncle and his sacrifice." Abel could think of nothing else to say about John-Paul who was indeed a strange man and Captain of the destroyed SAR Hildr in the Second Battle of Wu..
