Lord Banshee- Fugitive

by Russell O Redman

  More interesting, however, were the university engineering clubs who had developed more advanced versions and used them in competitions to build ever more elaborate structures. One of the challenges a decade previously had been to design a minimal set of bugs that were capable of self-reproduction by collecting together into factories. The top five teams had been hired on the spot, either by the original company or by one of their rivals who wanted to develop their own systems. One of the rival companies had Martian connections but had not previously been associated with criminal activity.

  I took a deep breath and told her to contact the company with Martian connections to ask if there was a way to override the controls for rogue glue bugs. From our experience, there was often only one part of such companies that was aware of their unsavoury political connections and everyone else would usually be cooperative about requests that showed an interest in their products. The bugs might even be useful if we could restore them to their original purpose, perhaps to patch leaky airlocks or damaged water systems.

  Raul guessed that the use of the bugs had been rejected by the TDF because a simple-minded, low-security control system like that could easily be overridden in battle. He still thought it was a good idea to contact the company, Martian connections notwithstanding. Given that we already had an infection, he thought it would be especially useful to know what hardware was used in the control system, because something, somewhere within the Mao was directing the bugs to where they could cause severe damage. It had to be some component that most of the ships in Earth orbit already had installed, most likely controlled by a set of comm tokens.

  That brought general assent amongst the Banshees, but the questions were becoming too technical for our skill set. Leilani composed a message to Wang and Haliru explaining our suggestion and asking if someone could be delegated to make these inquiries.

  2357-03-06 05:30

  Ultra-Secret

  After he left, I began to craft a request for assistance in recognizing encrypted messages in the bland reports we continued to receive from the Magellan and Kamehameha, trying to credit Com Thieu appropriately with key parts of the idea and requesting her continued assistance without incriminating her to Wang or Haliru. In the end, I passed the message to Raul, who could not think of an obvious way to reduce the risk. I sent it to Molongo, Wang and Haliru, with CC’s to Singh and Morris. Not wishing to make it seem a conspiracy, I did not send a copy to Thieu herself.

  Singh replied instantly, demanding that everyone to whom the message was addressed, including Thieu, should report immediately to the captain’s office where Sergei and I had met them three days before. The entire meeting and message chain would be classified as an Ultra-Secret. The door buzzer rang seconds later and two marines stepped in without asking, calling for Raul and me to go with them. Such a simple request, and it had exploded in our faces.

  Morris and Singh arrived together just after Raul and me, him groggy with sleep and her exhausted from lack of it. Molongo and Wang trailed in a few minutes later, equally exhausted. When he spotted Raul and I in the room, Wang growled, “You again. Damn troublemakers.” Thieu arrived, looking frightened and embarrassed. She would not look at Raul, and was clearly intimidated by Molongo, Singh and Morris. Haliru, when he finally showed up, was the only one in the room who looked to have had more than a few hours of sleep.

  He was also not intimidated by the other occupants. “I would like to know why I am here. I was taken away from replacing the defective comm units in half our machinery. This had bloody better be good, Singh.”

  She was startled and visibly annoyed at the insolence. I had seen that expression before, on Leilani after a long interrogation of an uncooperative suspect. Before she could make a suitably arch reply, Wang intervened.

  “I am sorry Senior Minister Singh, but I recruited Chief Eng Haliru to be a top-flight engineer, the best in the fleet, not to be a diplomat. And he is right in that keeping our ship from doing a Manila Bay is extremely urgent. However, Chief Eng Haliru, you should have noted that the Minister assigned this an Ultra-Secret security code. You will also note that I did not excuse you from attendance. It would be worth your effort to be more respectful. You will apologize, now.”

  He did, grudgingly. I glanced over at Thieu, who had gone rigidly to attention. Com on a battleship is a senior position in the TDF, but she had just witnessed the Chief Eng being reprimanded in front of three Council ministers.

  Singh relaxed a bit. “Respectfully, Chief Eng Haliru, but this issue is both critically important and extremely urgent, or I would never have called you from your duties. I called you because you received the request for assistance in decryption from Agents Douglas and San Diego and you have been a deciding part of the chain of events leading to that request. I must impress upon you that if this suggestion proves fruitful, it may change the entire conduct of this war. I am afraid I cannot speak to the details, but I recognized the importance immediately. We may need to call in external assistance but must wrap the entire enterprise in total secrecy.”

  Morris intervened, “Yes, yes, Anastasia, but could you get to the point? I have not woken up enough to read the request yet, much less digest its significance.”

  I decided to step in, “Perhaps I can summarize briefly the discussion that triggered the request. Agents San Diego, Com Thieu and myself were having a casual conversation this morning while we waited to be released from the infirmary, initially about whether it was possible to exchange documents through our existing filters if they were properly encrypted and serialized. Com Thieu mentioned that amateur cryptographers often try to create their own encryptions that turn text into blocks of numbers. Com Thieu also suggested that there were straightforward methods to crack many of the amateur encryptions. It occurred to Agent San Diego that Martian agents might be passing such documents in plain sight by embedding them in the printed versions of regular reports containing spreadsheet data. No one ever reads those data because the reports are always packaged with binary files containing the same data ready for further processing.

  “We have seen quite a few such reports from the Earth Stations Magellan and Kamehameha, which are the only two stations that did not report being devastated by the emoji attack. In fact, those boring, data-heavy reports are almost the only communications we receive from them. We would like to see if there are messages hidden in the human-readable versions of the data tables. To keep the number of people involved to a minimum until we know whether the idea has merit or not, we requested that Com Thieu be permitted to work with Agent San Diego to try to decrypt the data tables.”

  Wang grunted, “I would like to know why Com Thieu was even having such a conversation when I had given strict orders that the agents and the crew were not to mingle, on the direct advice of your own Doctor Marin.”

  Singh shook her head, “Not now, Dapeng. This may have been the most significant conversation anyone has had since we came aboard. I would like to point out that we have volumes of these reports and have been collecting them from every city on Mars for months. Dry as dust, full of economic tables and impenetrable jargon, but also possibly detailing the plans for the expected rebellion on Mars and the attack upon the Earth. That they show up now from those two stations is very troublesome. I note that these were the only two stations that Mindy did not say were targeted for destruction. Worse, I have seen very similar reports circulating amongst department heads within our own ministry, people who never read such reports or would be interested in their contents. I am now fully convinced that Agent Douglas is right. The war for the Earth is being fought as we speak and may have already been lost.

  “I am deeply disturbed that we have had these reports for so long. We were actively investigating whether there was a clandestine rebellion in progress and showed those reports to expert cryptographers in ExA. They shook their heads, smiled like Cheshire cats, and blandly dismissed them as impenetrable economic jargon. Business as usual.”

  Morris perk
ed up, “I was about to order a stim to help me keep awake, but I do not think I need it any more. I am sorry I was cranky earlier, Anastasia. And I am sorry Com Thieu, but you have stepped into an issue that may be well above your pay grade. Cap Wang, how would you rate Com Thieu’s skills in cryptography?”

  Wang looked thoughtful, then said, “Good, better than most actually, but not her specialty. Unfortunately, our MI operators were the only people we had fully trained in cryptography, and they are no longer on board because of their unreliable loyalties. She is probably one of the best we still have. Do you agree, Eng Haliru? I know she is not formally under your supervision, but I expect you have an opinion.”

  Haliru smiled a bit grimly, “I have an opinion on most things, it is true, but I agree with your assessment. Thieu does not have the skills you need but can talk to the people who do more effectively than anyone else on board. If we must bypass MI, you will need to go through the Admiralty Communications Centre. Do we have any reason to trust them? As I recall, Admiralty was blasting emojis at us.”

  Molongo shook his head, “Not any more. I returned to the MI comm centre after the last transport arrived this morning and am now on my third round of stims. I am looking forward to handing control back to Agent Douglas at the earliest opportunity. But back to the Admiralty, after we broadcast warnings out by laser, the fleet guarding the TDF station at Inner responded and reported passing the warning to the Admiralty. Last night, while we were greeting our returning troops, the Admiralty stopped sending emoji-encrusted messages. I was going to suggest we open that stream again as soon as we had a moment to think about it. There are a few others that seem to be clean again, but the Admiralty is the one we should work on first.”

  “Adjusting the filters to allow Admiralty messages through would be well within her talents,” Haliru said, “and probably the first steps in the decryption should be easy enough. After that, she is probably our best liaison with the ACC.

  “How would you feel about a new job, dear? Would you like to join the spooks?”

  Singh glanced over and gasped, “Oh, Com Thieu, I must apologize! We have been speaking as though you were not here. Please relax. There are to be no judgements here. Our only interest is whether your suggestion might be true. Would you be willing to work with the Banshees for a few days while we decide whether the reports contain hidden messages?”

  Poor Thieu finally found her voice. “Sirs, the key insight was from Agent Raul, I mean Agent San Diego.”

  Raul tried a different tack. “Com Thieu, I know for a fact that you can think clearly under stress. Imagine for a moment that Eng Haliru and Cap Wang are just armour suits full of glue bugs, and Brian here is our faithful marine. Can we discuss how to approach this problem?”

  The ridiculous image helped. She replied, “I strongly prefer them as they are. I would first compare the text and binary tables. Differences between the two tables may tell us where to look for messages. It should be easy to convert the text table into numbers, or vice versa, then to apply the basic cracking codes to the selected parts. If the texts are long that may be helpful, but if the texts are short we may need to analyze many of them. Most likely, each message has its own key, so analyzing many short texts would require resources we do not have. Even if the encryptions are easy, decoding many texts would still be outside our resources. I agree with Chief Eng Haliru that we need to make contact with ACC. I would work on enabling the stream to the Admiralty first, which should not take much time, then try to determine how to read the reports.”

  I watched the sweat beading on her forehead and wetting her pajamas under the arms. I was not surprised that Marin had forbidden mingling of the team with the crew and was prepared to talk with her about this issue, but for Thieu to have defied a direct order from the captain threatened to be a career-ending mistake.

  I glanced at Raul, who still looked cool under pressure. Maybe I did too, but I wondered if he had fully appreciated how our position was changing. Three days before, Singh and Morris had been concerned about developments on Mars and worried about the implications of the Fairy Dust. Today, Singh had accepted that we were trapped in a clandestine war. It was my increasingly strong belief that none of us would be returning to our old positions after the dust settled, because nothing would settle into the old patterns. Raul still acted as though the front of his head expected to flirt with Thieu for a few days and then return home. From what I had heard when we woke up, that was not what the back of his head wanted, and it was surely not what she wanted. Nor was it what this crisis demanded.

  “Cap Wang, perhaps you and I can discuss the disciplinary aspects of this incident privately. I firmly expect that everyone will be more diligent in the future. Is that understood, San Diego, Thieu?” They nodded and murmured assent, so I continued.

  “Minister Singh, I was not thinking of the wider aspects of this request, but I now feel we need to address them urgently. The team drew together during the emoji attacks but needs more regular work. The Fairy Dust and Hanuman incidents seem to have been warnings from the Belters, spectacular but so cryptic that they are impossible to understand. The attack on the Laika, like the emoji attacks, the glue bugs, and Mindy’s assault on the Mao, may have been factions within the larger conspiracy jumping the gun for personal glory. If they had been better coordinated, they could have been devastating, and I say that without minimizing the loss of the Manila Bay. If there are messages hidden in these reports, they may give us our first real evidence of what we are facing. We already have some contact with our former services, but the next step is clearly to contact the Admiralty and request assistance from the ACC. I expect the remaining discussion in this room will be, as Very Senior Minister Morris commented, above our pay grade. I would request that Com Thieu, Agent San Diego and myself should proceed directly to the MI comm centre where I will relieve General Molongo, and we can start work on modifying the comm filters. I will contact the Cap when the new filters are ready for live testing.”

  Cap Wang slowly nodded, “We will need a discussion about discipline, but so long as everyone understands we are at war and working on an Ultra-Secret project, let us proceed with that plan. I expect to hear from you soon. Also, Eng Haliru, I thank you for your time and advice, which is always concise and useful. You are free to resume your duties.”

  There was assent around the room, so the four of us left. Raul and I still needed escorts to the MI office, but they were not the two marines who had brought us. I was surprised to see that my escort was Marine Sa’id, and even more surprised that Raul was escorted by one of the sailors, whom Sa’id introduced as Nav Ming Rafaela. Thieu also had an escort, an off-duty marine. All three were in full dress uniforms instead of armour, but I noted were carrying side arms and clip-on satchels with emergency supplies. Thieu looked horribly embarrassed and trailed behind Raul and I like a fifth wheel.

  When we got to the office and closed the door, I asked Thieu, “Do you have any idea what that was about?”

  She knew instantly what I was talking about. “I am sorry, Sir. I believe that was what the Cap was concerned about, even more than my own disobedience. When we got back from evacuating the Manila Bay, the crew decided that we all needed voluntary honour guards for a week, in gratitude for the warning of the coming explosion that saved so many of the crew from both the Manila Bay and the Mao. The Cap ordered them back to their regular duties, but they refused. I accompanied Raul, so I have been awarded an honour guard as well. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to be escorted by your own friends in defiance of the Cap’s direct orders? I feel like a mutineer. It did not help that you drew attention to my overnight indiscretion. The Cap now has two reasons to discipline me.”

  “Ummm,” I replied, “I see why he is upset. We will have to put an end to that quickly. But in the meantime, as an acting Banshee, you fall under my discipline, which you are likely to find harsher and more erratic. Agent San Diego, do not smirk. You have not seen my command style yet.
I keep it well hidden these days. I killed too many of my former teams and try to avoid that kind of authority when I can. Let us get to work.”

  Thieu and I knew far more about comm operations than Raul, so we went to work on the filters while he started to examine the data tables. Generally, one would toggle on or off an entire bundle of streams, such as everything from the Admiralty. We wanted to be far more selective and so started to check which streams were currently clear of emojis and tokens. As Molongo had reported, the Admiral’s office had been clean for about sixteen hours. The Admiralty Communication Centre’s dedicated stream had been clean even longer, since just after our original warning. I wondered at the delay, but then remembered how long it had taken to pacify the Deng. Just getting to the Admiral’s office might have taken a long time.

  The stream for inter-ship communications was still badly affected. We discussed that for a while, then decided to open a stream for outgoing inter-ship messages that had been certified to be clean, while embargoing all incoming messages. We cloned the existing filter that stripped out tokens and emojis from internal communications and rewrote it for the incoming admiralty and inter-ship streams. If a message still had any content after filtering, it would be passed to the recipients. The original message with its emojis would be embargoed in a stopped queue and a warning flagged in the system. Too many warnings would disable the stream entirely. We attached the filter to each of the streams we proposed to open.

  As we worked, I demanded answers for what had happened yesterday.

  “The pair of you are at the centre of a disciplinary issue. Both Cap Wang and Doctor Marin have legitimate grounds to consider your behaviour in violation of military discipline on a warship in combat. Mutiny cannot be tolerated. Minister Singh believes that much more important issues are at stake, and I agree with her to a large extent. However, Singh has never fought in a war and does not understand the serious consequences that flow from willful people ignoring orders. I do.