Rescue Branch (Kinsella Universe)

by Gina Marie Wylie

  “I can do that, sir.”

  “Good. After I finish we'll have a number of experts brief you. The same thing in the morning.”

  Stephanie watched curiously as President Campbell prepared for his speech. It was amusing, she thought, that he kept looking at his short list of topics.

  She finally spoke up. “Sir, how do you do it? Give a speech like this? With just that?” she gestured at the scrap of paper.

  He smiled at her. “Admiral, I'm nearly sixty. I've given at least a speech a day since I was a teenager. Thousands and thousands of speeches. Like anything we do frequently, it gets easier with repetition, although I've never found speaking to a camera anything but a pain; you have no audience reaction to gauge.”

  “I'd need to plan every last word.”

  “And no doubt you do a fine job. Will you be able to deal with the questions, tomorrow?”

  “Sir, my preferred career path was a professor -- answering questions was a key part of the job description. I excel at that.”

  “Then you relax about your questions tomorrow and let me relax and not worry about any concerns about this speech.”

  She laughed. “Yes, sir!”

  He was brisk in front of the camera.

  “I'm Robert Campbell, President of the Federation Council. I've asked all of the national TV networks around the globe to carry this press briefing live because of the nature of the topic.

  “I want to assure you at the outset that the last time I spoke like this was to warn of the plague that had been visited upon our houses; this time it's a report and not a warning -- it concerns nothing so dire.

  “Still, as events of consequence go, this is far more important than most.

  “I want to thank the cooperation of a very great many leaders of some very great sovereignties, who are cooperating closely with the Federation in this matter. I also wish to thank the various broadcast networks for preempting their usual programming on such short notice.

  “I'm going to go over the basic facts as we know them at this time. This has happened very quickly and is very extensive; we still have a lot of work to do in this regard. Tomorrow morning there will be another press conference, here in Erfurt, in the German Federal Republic, where questions will be permitted.

  “So, the facts as we know them as of now.

  “Yesterday evening about 1900 local time, a call was received in the Federation Liaison office in Berlin with a report of a secret bio-war lab located southwest of Erfurt. The caller named names of the pathogens being experimented on; the call was adjudged to be possibly true.

  “A specially-trained company of Fleet Marines was dispatched to the site to investigate. The German Federal Republic was one of the early signatories to the Federation's special codicils, articles twenty-eight to thirty of the Federation charter, giving it the responsibility for inspecting and otherwise dealing with any bio-war facility.

  “Our Marines entered cautiously in the most secure suits known to man -- some of our Marines were among the first casualties of the plague and the survivors are hyper-conscious of the dangers involved.

  “Within a short time they realized that the Otto Koop Institute of Biotechnology was not a bio-war lab, but, in its own way, something just as monstrous.

  “The colonel commanding the company had, by that time, become a casualty, although he later recovered enough to continue in command.

  “There is no polite way, no gentle way to describe what they found. If children are watching, I suggest you have them leave the room.” He paused for a long moment before continuing.

  “The senior Marine called his commanders and reported what we call a 'Stone Face' incident -- a crime against humanity. The matter was quickly escalated to the Federation Council.

  “I asked Rear Admiral Stephanie Kinsella to go to Erfurt, to determine if there was cause for such a declaration. Admiral Kinsella needs no introduction, I'm sure.

  “She assured me that this situation was indeed grave. I requested three members of the Federation Supreme Court to travel to Erfurt to certify, according to Article XXIX of the Federation Charter, that a crime against humanity had occurred. I came myself, following on their heels.

  “What we saw was harrowing. Some of us, quite literally, died.

  “Words will never do this crime justice. The bald description is best, because it leaves the act to your imagination -- and most of us can't actually conceive of how terrible it was.

  “Otto Koop and his researchers seem to have found a key that unlocks genetics. Not just one or two genomes -- but all of them. Animals and plants. Here we found subjects -- living subjects -- that they experimented on. They created chimeras -- human DNA combined in various proportions with animal DNA.

  “Closer examination has revealed that some of the victims were created from the ground up... wholesale manipulation of their genome to produce a desired result. There are many such victims here; victims that were, for the most part, tranquilized and left to the mercies of fate.

  “Most of the victims appear to be infants; however we are aware that not all species mature at the same rate, so just how mature some of the victims are is a matter of conjecture. We are doing the best we can with non-invasive methods to determine the status of each group. There are more than a hundred different groups.

  “Obviously, we wanted to talk to the people who perpetrated this outrage. They are gone; they've fled. On top of that, preliminary investigation turned up contacts with six other labs around the planet. The locations were turned over to the various sovereignties -- all of these labs appear to have conspired together; all are sites of similar research, where other victims have been found. All abandoned by the researchers.

  “Honestly, that such research could be conducted at one site is unbelievable. Seven? Obviously there was a conspiracy, a world-girdling conspiracy, to do this.

  “One of the German police officials summed it up earlier today. This wasn't just a crime against humanity, but a crime against God. I'm not religious; I've never claimed to be... but of this I'm sure -- if there is a just and righteous God, the people who did this had better watch out!

  “I want to assure everyone that everything that can be done is being done to succor the innocents harmed by these foul deeds. Police forces around the planet are working around the clock tracing leads, gathering information about those who were involved in this terrible crime.

  “I ask that you have patience with our efforts, give us time to work through all the myriad urgent matters that have to be attended to.

  “As I said at the start, the Federation will have a press conference tomorrow morning, local time. The various sovereignties involved will undoubtedly hold their own briefings about their findings. I counsel patience once again. The Federation is committed to being open about events and we will report them in full.

  “I thank all of your for your attention and concern. Goodnight.”

  Joe Stark appeared and handed Stephanie a piece of paper. She perused it and handed it to President Campbell.

  He looked at it and laughed bitterly. “This isn't going to turn out well, is it?”

  “No, sir. They found the regular crew of the City of Kursk in a shuttle, heavily sedated. The obvious inference is that the ship was hijacked. Sir, these people aren't the usual class of plotters. They are intelligent; they think, they carefully plan. They are unlikely to make very many mistakes. They carefully cover their tracks.

  “We are going to be lucky to find out anything about them that they didn't want us to find.”

  “That's pessimistic, Admiral,” the President told her.

  “Perhaps. Sir, if I was a plotter and had months to plot, you can be sure that you would learn almost nothing about my activities regarding the plot afterwards that I didn’t want you to learn. Somewhere we are going to find a manifesto, I suspect; a justification for what they did.

  “They're gone, sir. Like I said earlier, it might be a thousand years before we find them again.<
br />
  “City of Kursk was nuclear-powered, as was the Ad Astra, using a refurbished naval nuclear reactor. We have a new generation of ships out and about now that are fusion powered -- they actually require regular refueling -- but it's simple deuterium that is abundant throughout the universe. City of Kursk has fuel for two or three years of operation, and then it will cost a bundle to refuel. Odds are, they'd switch to a new power supply then.

  “The odds are very bad against us seeing them for a long time, sir -- and I think it's safe to say that was their intention.”

  “This is going to redound terribly on the various national governments. I'm not sure but what I'll lose my job; I care, but the Federation is too important to worry about my feelings. The feeling of helplessness... it's terrible to contemplate.”

  “I know, sir.” Stephanie smiled sadly. “In a way, it's helpful. It leaves me to deal with the immediate issues; I am, in a small way, grateful for that.”

  * * *

  The next morning Stephanie listened to a litany of reports. Herr Hoffman sat at her shoulder, suddenly promoted to the German Federal Republic's special representative to the Federation.

  At one pause, she was rubbing her forehead and Herr Hoffman was polite. “I have been a policeman for nearly thirty years.

  “Most criminals are idiots. They make the most rudimentary plans, which all too frequently fail utterly. We stretch out our hands and gather them in. A few plot and plan; most of them are idiots as well. Don't they understand that policemen are as fond of mysteries as the average reader? That we relish it when we find an actual mystery -- and then apply ourselves a hundred-fold to solve it?

  “These are not your garden variety plotters, Admiral. They were focused, directed. It is clear that they had simple goals, with simple plans to achieve those goals. Simple, basic plans don't break as easily as more complex plots. And, it's clear too, that not all of the people that went along, went willingly. They identified weak links and kidnapped them, if nothing else.

  “Your assessment that we aren't going to learn much about them appears to be too true, Admiral.”

  “It is one thing to be able to accurately predict results,” she told him. “It is another to be at peace with the results.”

  “No one who went downstairs at the Otto Koop laboratory will ever know inner peace. I know it was my duty; my wife wanted to know all the details... all I could do was tell her that she could live the rest of her life ignorant of those details and be better off.”

  A short while later Charlie Rampling put herself in Stephanie's path. “I talked to your father a while ago. I've added my name to his legal actions.”

  “Thank you, Charlie.”

  “Do you understand that I'll never forgive you for leaving my son behind?”

  “I've understood for some time, Charlie. I really wish you understood why I did that.”

  “Oh, yes! You saved a good fraction of the human race! Of course, you killed half of the people I cared about. How is that a good thing?”

  “Half to you was one person, Charlie. I hardened my heart to the one -- and saved billions.”

  “I tell myself that has to be important. Yet, somehow, in my view, the one dwarfs the billions.” The biologist grimaced. “Of course, I'm not totally stupid. It just hit me in the gut, Steph.”

  “I know. You and I, Charlie. You think you understand me, but no one really does -- not even me. I thought Dick's death precluded children; in truth I was pleased beyond measure, because I look on the Federation as my child. Like any parent I want it to grow up big and strong, able to deal with things that would confound me.

  “All my life, Charlie, my biggest failure is pride.”

  Charlie sighed. “I realized one day that was your goal. You're happiest when you are putting billions of people on the right track. Benko-Chang, the Federation, the plague -- and now this. When it comes to moving humanity in the direction you want it to go, you excel.”

  “I suppose. I know it's hubris to presume to know what's best for so many people.”

  “I'm hearing a hint of pessimism, Steph. That's not like you.”

  “I'm finished, Charlie. This investigation is my swan song. Castleman wanted to replace me with a 'more senior admiral who knows the political ins and outs of such situations.'

  “I'm afraid President Campbell told him to stuff his notions up an anatomically unpleasant place. The Chinese Prime Minister was even more emphatic, although not as plain spoken.

  “Castleman was livid. I knew I was toast when he suddenly smiled and said that I was ideally suited for the current mission and that he'd see that I was assigned to it exclusively.

  “In a day or two, I'll be the admiral in charge of the Erfurt investigation. In a year or so the investigation will wrap up and it will be politely hinted that I should retire.” Stephanie laughed bitterly. “Otherwise they'll assign me to monitor school crossing guards on Ganymede.”

  “Good God! They are fools! You're head and shoulders the best leader in the Fleet!”

  “I'd like to think so -- except I've been outvoted. John Gilly reminded me that there is a shiny rainbow inside every dark cloud. I now have an in with the Federation Supreme Court. They are going to claim final jurisdiction on the Erfurt victims. You are going to be a legal Granny and I'm going to be a legal Mom. I have no idea how to be a good parent, but I'm sure that with enough research, I can at least be average.”

  “Average?” Charlie said, laughing. “I'll help! I'll be looking over your shoulder the whole time! You'll be superb!”

  * * *

  The second press conference was mostly anti-climactic. The press secretary said his piece, and then Stephanie summed up the outlines of the criminal investigation.

  The first question was to her. “You've said nothing about the victims, Admiral Kinsella. Could you describe what is being done for them?”

  “It has been only about a day since we started getting a handle on their requirements. It is apparent that the Koopianers have obscured all of the relevant details on what was done to each of them. We've managed to decode some of the files we've found on the one or two computers there was still data on. They are internet porn.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Internet porn -- red herrings left to distract us from more meaningful investigation. We have considerable local resources now and the investigation continues to expand. But the data they left was clearly to point us to the various labs with additional victims... not to inform of us of anything important.

  “It would be foolish to think that they left us anything of real consequence. We have been reduced to hoping to find a manifesto of their intent -- as yet, we haven't found it.”

  Another reporter stood. “Admiral, could you characterize the nature of the victims? How much animal DNA was used in their makeup?”

  “I can't; the investigation is too preliminary. I won't -- most people, led slowly to the realization can handle the simple examples. Faced with the more complex examples, it becomes problematical. Some of the groups of victims cause about a third of the people seeing them to suffer extreme effects.”

  “Extreme?”

  “Madame Supreme Court Justice Taylor, standing just feet away from me, took one look at the third set of victims she'd seen and died instantly. More than one Marine officer has, as they say, eaten his sidearm. The Chinese, English and French lost people as their various national first responders have suffered in the same fashion.”

  “Admiral, I get the feeling you're beating around the bush.”

  “Of course I am. A third, Miss, a third of the individuals seeing some groups suffer severe psychological or physiological damage. In some cases that damage is lethal. These are victims that need to be approached carefully, with due regard to cultural differences.”

  “I still don't understand,” the woman said petulantly.

  Stephanie looked over the crowd. “Are there any Hindus here?”

  One man held up his hand. “I'm not religious
, though,” he said.

  Stephanie signed to a crew of medics in the back to be ready. “Slide Shiva-one.”

  On a wall screen behind were a group of four anatomically correct male and female “Shivas” -- each having six arms.

  “Sacrilege!” the reporter said angrily. “That is sacrilege!”

  “Indeed. The people who did this research had not the least respect for any god, humanity or anything else. They took it upon themselves to do whatever it pleased them to do -- and there was not much that didn't please them.

  “Our psychologists have told us that the victims are greatly agitated because of so many new faces. We have worked to reduce that agitation as best we can. Still, you'll tell me that the public has a right to know.

  “I can't say no. The public does have a right to know. We are going to have rely on your good judgment just how much they come to know. Do you understand that besides Shivas, we have unicorns, centaurs, Cyclops, and a number of winged species of other mythical or fantasy origins? Do you really think your viewers could handle a bird cage filled with Tinker Bells?”

  Stephanie was patient. “We are limiting access to the victims -- for their protection and yours. We will, however, allow reporters access to all of the groups. No reporter will be allowed access to more than one group.”

  “You're trying to limit access!” a famous anchorperson yelled.

  “Of course. Do you understand why? One group of victims can usually be handled by our psyches. Two is tougher. Three? At three about a third of those who see them suffer harm. Above three the numbers go very bad. Some groups, in and of themselves, are as bad as seeing several groups.”

  “You're exaggerating!” the man said heatedly.

  “And you're prepared to risk your sanity to disprove that?” Stephanie asked him. “I'll repeat -- we'll let reporters visit all of the groups of victims -- just not one set of reporters to more than one group.