Transformation Protocol

by David M. Kelly

  Logan nodded. "So who is she working for?" He tossed the Scroll back to Dan.

  The main console beeped. We were entering the Atoll's traffic network, and they were asking for control of the Shokasta's guidance systems. I looked around. "If anyone wants to get off, now's your last chance."

  No one moved, but I swear I could hear people's heartbeats in the silence.

  "Okay. We're going in."

  I put the forward view on screen as the Atoll's mottled surface grew closer. The control thrusts were minimal and handled the approach smoothly. When we were a few hundred meters from the surface, we stopped. A docking tube extended out to meet us, and we heard the thump as it connected with our main airlock.

  I locked the ship controls and turned.

  Dan lowered the Scroll. His hands trembled. "I don't want to go. I wouldn't be any good to you anyway."

  "I thought you'd changed your mind about the Atollers?"

  He shivered. "I thought I could handle it... sorry."

  I was surprised but slapped his shoulder. "You can guard the home front."

  A look of relief flooded his face. "I'll keep poking at their systems. If I find anything useful, I'll let you know."

  "Okay." I turned around. "Everybody grab a comm-link. That way we can keep in touch. Use channel twenty-seven. Scramble pattern Gamma."

  That would give us some privacy for any communications we made. Not that the Atolls or anyone else couldn't break it, but the configuration was commonly used for maintenance traffic so should be relatively unmonitored.

  At the airlock, Logan opened a weapons locker and pulled out a service pistol. "Commander, will we have clearance for these?"

  McDole hesitated and blew out a short breath. "I made sure everyone had a special-ops rating. I'd rather you didn't take them, though."

  "Joe?" Logan looked at me with raised eyebrows.

  "It would only tempt me to shoot Paek. I'll pass."

  He looked at Aurore.

  "I'd be more danger to myself than anyone else," she said.

  Logan clipped the belt around his waist and added a spare magazine. He looked at McDole. "You?"

  She shook her head.

  I moved over to the airlock controls. The indicator showed there was pressure on the other side, and I punched the door release.

  "Time to crash this party."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The door opened, and we clambered along the docking tube using guide-lines running along its length. At the far end, a circular airlock was waiting for us. The light was green, showing it was ready to be opened, and I pressed the controls. The door slid open, and we let McDole go first, not knowing what we'd find. Once we passed through the inner door, we were met by two guards in Atoll Defense Force uniforms. They looked smaller and less heavily Geneered than most MilSec personnel. But their frowns, along with the QuenchGuns they were carrying, suggested a confrontation was best avoided.

  "Would you provide a biogenetic verification, Commander McDole?" One of the guards carried a portable bio-scanner.

  She held out her arm and let the scanner take a small cell sample. After a few seconds, it beeped, and an indicator flashed green.

  "Thank you, Commander. Welcome to Marduk." The guard looked at us suspiciously. "If you don't mind."

  "These are covert operatives. I vouch for them," McDole said sharply. "No identification required."

  The second guard moved his hand onto the grip of his pistol. "That's highly unusual, Commander. We have specific instructions to—"

  "I'm well aware of your instructions, Sergeant. This is an unusual circumstance, and I am over-riding your standing orders."

  "I will have to log this breach of protocol," he said.

  "Understood," McDole said coldly. "Now go about your other duties."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  The pair backed off like a couple of scolded dogs, allowing us to enter the elevator-like transport tube that shot us to the habitat levels where we had gravity again. I leaned over and whispered to McDole. "I thought we were screwed before we'd got started."

  She smiled. "They had no choice but to let us through. But some men try to play power games—even when it's pointless."

  For some reason, Palmer, my ex-project manager, came to mind, and I snorted. "True in all cultures."

  When the tube doors opened, we stepped out onto a wide avenue lined on both sides by rather clinical-looking, single-story buildings. I looked up automatically, but there was nothing except roof above us. We weren't at the central level where we'd have a view of the other side of the cylinder. That wasn't too surprising. As far as I knew, they set aside the center for landscaped parkways. Oddly enough, the blue ceiling did look a little like sky, with drifting light patches that almost resembled clouds. There even seemed to be a gentle breeze in the air, complete with slight variations in temperature, though the station was air-conditioned naturally. It seemed the Atollers liked the idea of open air despite their criticism of the poor planet-bound scroffers. Whatever the thinking behind it, it made the atmosphere seem brighter and more airy.

  "If we split up," McDole said, "we can cover more ground."

  "How about you two take a look around the residential quarters while we work our way toward the main conference room?" I said to Logan and Aurore. "Keep in touch, though."

  "Will do," said Logan. They headed away, along the long axis of the level.

  McDole grabbed my arm. "This way."

  We passed several people as we walked, some in larger groups but most in twos and threes. Everyone seemed relaxed and unhurried, a marked contrast to the bustle of a typical Earth city. Despite their reported population and the conference visitors, Marduk wasn't crowded, and I asked McDole about that.

  "Even the oldest Atolls have population densities far below those of Earth. And Marduk is in the early development phase. Even with all the VIPs, it's still well below what we'd call full capacity.

  "This is the third Atoll I've stepped on in a few months." While I talked, my eyes scanned everyone we passed. I also checked every room and corridor I could see into, looking for anything out of place. "Do I qualify for a frequent visitor discount?"

  "You're probably the first to visit so many since the first generation Atollers." McDole stopped. "Up ahead."

  She gestured, and I struggled to pick out what she'd seen.

  "Tall woman, silver hair. Wearing Earther clothing."

  It could have been Dollie, or Sigurd for that matter, though at this distance I couldn't tell. She was with a man or possibly a woman dressed in what would usually be thought of as men's clothing. McDole reached inside her jacket, pulled out a short rod, and flicked it. It extended into a Shock-Wand, though I'd never seen one so compact before. She must have been hiding it all the time she was on the ship, and it was worrying that it hadn't triggered the Shokasta's internal sensors.

  "I'll approach them from the front," I said. "You stay on their blind-side."

  I marched toward the couple. They weren't walking fast, so I quickly overtook them. I passed them in a wide curve, then turned back to meet them face-to-face. McDole moved up behind them, the wand ready in her hand.

  Even if Dollie had drastically changed her appearance, I felt sure I'd know her once I got within a few meters, and my heart pounded in my chest as I closed on them. Then as the distance between us shrank, I realized neither of them was her. I shook my head at McDole, who fell back. When I joined her, she'd put the wand away.

  "This isn't going to be easy," she said.

  "Especially with Sigurd involved."

  We moved on, heading for the main conference area. It got busier the closer we approached, and it was then I spotted the first figures in robes. "Oh hell, I'd forgotten about them."

  "Who?"

  I pointed at a small group ahead of us. "Representatives from the self-flagellating misogynists union—otherwise known as the MusCat Council of Light." They were dressed in the heavy robes traditionally worn by members,
including cowl-like hoods that hid their faces. "What do we do about them?"

  "We can't force them to reveal themselves," McDole said. "It would create a political nightmare."

  "If we don't, we could have a different kind of nightmare on our hands."

  "Joe?" Dan's voice buzzed through my comm-set. "I found something."

  "I'm kinda busy, Dan."

  "I hacked into the Defined Payback's data systems."

  "Paek's ship?" I turned to McDole, who'd raised her eyebrows. "How did you manage that?"

  "I wanted to find out what was going on."

  "Dan, this is Logan. What have you got?"

  There was the slightest of pauses before Dan spoke again. "Communications logs. Between Paek's ship and others. Some of the transponder entries match those of the AF-11s that attacked us."

  I stopped breathing for about a minute. "Are you sure?"

  "I ain't stupid."

  Logan spoke again. "Can you copy the records without getting caught?"

  Dan hesitated again. "Maybe. Yeah, I think so."

  "Grab everything you can." My head spun, both from Dan's discovery and the fact that he'd been able to hack their systems at all. Could he have done the same with ours? "We need to get this to SecOps, not to mention the other nation-states."

  "I said they weren't Atoll ships," McDole grumbled. "You should have believed me."

  I held up my hands. "I didn't disbelieve you. How would you have felt if circumstances were the other way around?" I tapped the send button on my comm-set. "Keep poking around, Dan. See what else you can find out."

  McDole seemed to shiver. "He confuses me. It's like he's old and decrepit but young at the same time. And sometimes I think I see a deep-set hatred in his eyes, but then he hides it so thoroughly you'd almost say you'd never seen it."

  I understood how she felt. "He told me what the Atollers did to him. It was bad."

  "I know. I saw the records." Her jaw set angrily. "I didn't want to admit it before. It was monstrously wrong, and I understand why he hates us—but then why does he try to hide it?"

  I tapped my comm-set again. "Logan, there are MusCat representatives here in full robes. Dollie and Sigurd might use that as a disguise. I've no idea how we check them, though."

  "How about a random ID check? I'm sure the Commander could pull that off."

  "Might be our only hope," I said. "But that won't help you."

  "We'll try to come up with something."

  The group of MusCats didn't take long to catch. They were ambling along as if out for a morning stroll. Given their lack of interest in space development, their only goal at the conference would be gaining access to new resources. McDole walked up to them, while I stayed back a little, ready to jump in if anything happened.

  "Atoll Security." She held up her ID to the man nearest her. "I need to check your IDs."

  He hesitated, perhaps because he was being addressed by a woman. Then after a few moments, he held out his wrist to show the security tag and lifted his cowl, so she could see his face.

  McDole gestured him aside and repeated the same routine with the next three in the group. But the last one delayed for several minutes, not saying a word.

  "Brother Phelps..." said the first man, rubbing and twisting his hands together. "Comply with the... Atoller's request. We have nothing to fear while we act in the service of the Absolute."

  Phelps didn't seem to hear, though even through the thick robe he was visibly shaking. Was it panic? Fear? Anger?

  "Show your ID, Brother Phelps," he repeated.

  Phelps bolted from the others. Unluckily for him, he'd been so intent on McDole, he hadn't noticed me edging around him and tripped on my extended foot.

  "Excuse me..." I said, dropping down as if to help him up but in fact uncovering his wrist and his face in the process.

  McDole glanced down at him then shook her head, and I helped him back to his feet, making a show of dusting him down. "My apologies."

  "Curse all of you unbelievers." He spat the words. "May the Absolute smite you down in holy vengeance."

  "I hope you're satisfied, Commander," the first man said, then they turned and marched away almost in unison.

  "Not the most elegant of encounters." McDole frowned. "But hardly surprising with those people."

  Her reaction was understandable. The MusCat alliance had a long history of human—and especially women's—rights abuses. It was the rise of such fundamentalism that led to the old United States schism and was part of the drive to form the Atolls themselves. Scientists wanted a place where they could carry out their research without interference, and when they couldn't find it on Earth, they made their own.

  I viewed the map on my Scroll. The main conference room was about five-hundred meters ahead. "The next session starts in twenty minutes."

  "Could you be wrong?" McDole said. "Perhaps Dollie and this Sigurd took the ship for other reasons."

  So far there had been nothing to support my theory, but I still felt I was right. "Dollie wouldn't steal a ship to take a joyride. I know that." I tapped my comm-set. "Dan? Did you find anything else?"

  There was a short silence, then he came on the line sounding out of breath. "Nah. Nothing important. But those necking Corporates have definitely been playing games. It's all in their logs."

  "Joe. Logan here, I—"

  The comm channel filled with static, and a moment later I heard several rumbles, like the distant thunder of a summer storm. "Logan? You okay?"

  There was no reply, and I tried again. "Logan? Aurore?"

  A rush of air hit us from behind, and I half-turned, then heard the far-away crackle of what had to be gunfire. "That's at the residential area. Let's go."

  McDole hesitated. "Why would they attack there? As you said, the session starts in the main hall in twenty minutes. How many people would be in the residences?"

  A shrill warble sounded, almost deafening me with its intensity and frequency. "A diversion?" I shouted, trying to be heard over the alarm.

  McDole nodded.

  "Dan? Can you access the Atoll security systems?" He didn't answer, but possibly it was too noisy for him to hear my question.

  I took several steps back the way we'd come.

  "This way, Joe," McDole yelled. "If Dollie's anywhere, she's up ahead."

  I turned toward McDole and the conference rooms. But although my head said she was right, my heart was screaming at me to run back in case Dollie was in the other direction.

  A heavy krump sounded from the conference room area, the siren stopped warbling, and I was thrown to the floor. The corridors filled with people running in every direction away from the conference rooms. Moments later, they were met with an army of security in a mixture of uniforms, battling to get through the crowd to reach the conference area. I picked myself up and realized the alarm might not have ended—rather my ears weren't picking it up. The shock wave of the explosions had killed my hearing. Temporarily, I hoped.

  The first attack must have been staged to draw the security people toward the residences. Then Dollie, no doubt with Sigurd's help, had attacked the conference rooms. The corridors vanished as a thick cloud of smoke rolled toward me, and a minute later I was enveloped. Blind as well as deaf. Things were looking up.

  The feeling of dull nothing in my ears faded, only to be replaced by a high-pitched whistling tone, which wasn't much more of a help. I staggered forward, hoping I hadn't gotten turned around when I hit the floor. I banged into several people, but they were all heading the opposite way and not interested in me in the slightest. The smoke had a damp oily smell to it that caught in my nose, making my eyes water.

  Somebody grabbed me, and I looked around to see McDole. She had a small cut above her eye, and a sliver of blood ran down her cheek almost like a bloody tear. She pulled me from the throng, and after a few steps I saw the glow of an information screen. Most of it flashed with a large hazard warning sign, but as we got closer I realized there was something
odd about the display. There were no pressure or fire warnings.

  That could have been because whatever had happened had messed up the sensors, but it seemed unlikely. An explosion that big would have started fires or blown a hole in the Atoll walls and caused at least a temporary pressure breach... unless someone wanted us to think there was trouble here when there wasn't.

  But that didn't make sense either. The other attack had been the diversion, to draw attention to the residences. Or was it? Why risk carrying out two?

  I heard a distant voice, almost inaudible against the whistling in my ears. Then there was a tug at my sleeve. McDole was screaming, but I couldn't make out her words. The smoke thinned, and she pointed along the corridor. But all I saw were groups of panicking people moving in all directions.

  I struggled to understand why there'd be two diversions. Why make a bigger, louder bang when a smaller one will do? Then it hit me. In a small incident, the security forces would try to secure the situation on-site with minimal disruption. But in a large attack? They'd be thinking of evacuation. I pulled out my Scroll and checked the layout again. The Defined Payback was docked at port seventy A and B of the stationary inner hub. If Paek thought there'd been a large-scale attack, he'd bolt back to his ship for sure.

  And Dollie would be waiting.

  I abandoned McDole and headed directly to the nearest transport tube.

  *

  The tube let me out at a broad walkway connecting several docking ports. The closest one was surrounded by a panic-stricken mob beating on the airlock door, and I headed for the one further along. Despite the extra distance it didn't take much longer. I zipped along in the ZeeGee, and without the crowds, my path was clear.

  The lock stood open when I got there, and I edged into the corridor beyond. There was no one in sight, but I heard the noise of the rabble behind me. I glanced back and saw a similar throng of people swarming toward the airlock I'd come through. I thought I'd seen some of them heading for the other port, but they must have seen me enter this one and followed. I slammed the door closed, locking out the external override.