“I believe the Leading Engineer will eventually become accustomed to my presence, as shall everyone, and will settle down; he just needs a little more time than the rest of the crew.
“As to the question of the target, you shall be made aware of the identity of this person, but only at such time when the knowledge can no longer interfere with my mission. Everyone will, at some point, accept that I am also just another member of the crew; after all, we have been together for two weeks now and to date I have not arrested, interviewed, interrogated nor administrated anyone, which must be some kind of a record, don’t you think?”
Rachmel found herself beginning to warm to this woman and her common sense insight into human nature, so she walked to the door before she decided to hug and make up.
Back in her quarters, Rachmel grinned to herself; Andretta had obviously said more to her than she had intended.
She went over what the agent had said...‘As to the question of the target, you shall be made aware of the identity of this person...’ THIS PERSON! So, it was just one target and not more, as she had initially been led to believe.
The next seven days went by with everyone spending most of their time in their quarters, busying themselves with checks that had been made hundreds of times; or utilising the hoverbugs to transport themselves to remote little areas where they could be alone with their thoughts. All had given up gazing at the outside vista; there were groups of stars and then some more stars, which were inevitably followed by more stars: pretty soon, watching drying paint became an attractive option.
The most reclusive member of the crew was Kamul, who seemed to be spending more time in the physics laboratory than anywhere else and only using the galley when everyone else was sleeping.
Rachmel was disturbed by Miles’s distant attitude; it had been a week since her tete-a-tete with Andretta, and although the Agent had been correct in saying he would calm down he still appeared to be avoiding her; she decided it was time to confront him. Leaving her quarters she made her way to his room and, placing her hand on the entry pad, the doorcom responded “Quarters are vacant.”
Returning to her own room she sat at the desk. “MAC”
“Commander, request please”
“Leading Engineering Officer Miles: location?”
The reply was instant. “Leading Engineering Officer Miles is in the Biohibernation section.”
“Who else is present?”
“Leading Pilot Officer Hidson.”
“Status of their remote interfaces.”
“Both remote interfaces are closed down.”
Rachmel began to wonder if Miles had found himself a soul mate, but discounted that as Hidson was a family kind of man of long standing; however, he wouldn’t be the first married man to turn the corner on a long voyage. At that moment, MAC broke into her thoughts.
“Commander, do you require these Officers to report to your quarters?”
“No, but inform me whenever these two officers close down their remote interfaces.”
Duarte took her meal tray over to where Andretta was sitting, alone, in the galley and, standing at the table, she asked “May I join you?”
Andretta looked up, her face impassive as ever. “Certainly, but don’t blame me if you suddenly find yourself with a reputation.”
Duarte sat down opposite her. “I don’t think this will make any difference; nobody seems to be speaking to me anyway; in fact, no one seems to be speaking to anyone much.
I can’t say I won’t be happy to see the end of this mission; how about you? It can’t be much fun, after all gh…” she immediately corrected herself, “I mean, Agents are not particularly known for having friends in the services; this must be a very lonely trip for you.”
Andretta smiled. “Loneliness and boredom are not issues to an Agent and if we are not working then we are practicing our skills, or spending time with our families; those that have them that is.”
Duarte had finished her first tablet and was beginning on the next. “So how often do you get to see your family?” She asked.
Andretta cocked her head to one side and said bemusedly, “If I didn’t know better, I would say I was being interrogated by a fellow Agent.”
They both laughed at this: just then, Coles stepped into the galley; Duarte raised her hand and said “Hi there.”
The medical Officer replied “Hi” and went out again.
Duarte looked at Andretta. “See what I mean?”
Andretta leaned back in her seat. “Don’t worry about it; this is a very special mission which, if successful, could open up horizons for mankind that haven’t even been thought of yet; under these kinds of circumstances it’s no wonder everyone is feeling the tension.”
Duarte’s brow furrowed. “Well, the tension doesn’t seem to be bothering you.”
Andretta nodded her agreement, “I have trained for years neither to show nor to feel stress. You on the other hand have not and I observe no tension in you.”
Duarte thought for a moment and then responded “I can’t remember that I have ever felt stress of any kind while in the service; I’ve always had an attitude of exploration. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in taking unknown risks but I do want to know what’s around the next corner. What do you think we’ll find out there?”
“Much like yourself, I hold no preconceptions; I work purely on evidence and fact. But what do you believe is waiting for us? After all, you are the on board scientist.”
“I don’t know. But whatever might be out there, I just wonder if they are ready to meet mankind.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Andretta.
At this moment, Hidson entered the galley: got his meal and, without a word of recognition, he sat down at the next table behind Andretta with his back to them. Duarte watched as he sat and then, raising her eyebrows and shrugging her shoulders, she smiled at her companion.
Andretta grinned, knowingly, and said “You were saying?”
“Well, it seems to me that we have been slaughtering each other for tens of thousands of years; sometimes in the name of one deity or other, or for land resources, or just to enslave people and to take what is someone else’s; but the main objective has always been power. The power of one person’s will to overrule all others. Leadership is, after all, the suppression of will and we find it natural and acceptable because we, as a life form, have never explored the possibilities of living in any other way; and the killer question to all this is ‘but what would you replace it with?’ The sad answer being ‘we just don’t know: we shall never know.’”
Andretta regarded her for a moment before remarking “That seems to be quite a cynical view of our race for one as youthful as you.”
Duarte nodded, “It would be cynical if I had made it up or had twisted the facts to suit my argument, but I didn’t; it is all there in our history and no amount of creative re-writing will change it. So, with that kind of foundation to our race how do you think we will treat any alien forms that we might encounter? Are we looking for friends? Or are we stalking prey?”
Andretta regarded the woman for a few seconds before replying “I wouldn’t care to speculate: but for all our sakes we should hope that they haven’t had a similar foundation.”
Miles was running inspection checks when Hidson arrived at the ULiSS bay section. Without leaving the Hoverbug, Hidson said “Talk time.”
Miles nodded his response and made his way over to his own vehicle.
Once in the Biohibernation section they closed down their remote interfaces.
Hidson spoke first, “One of them is Duarte: and from the way he’s been acting, the other one must be Kamul.”
Miles was taken aback at the assertion. “What makes you so sure?”
The Pilot began to recount the conversation he had overheard in the galley.
Rachmel had barely stepped back into her quarters when MAC announced “Commander, conforming to your instruction in relation to Leading Officers Hidson an
d Miles: these Officers have closed down their remote interfaces.”
“Where are they”.
The response was immediate, “Biohibernation section.”
“Location of all crew members.”
“Rachmel, Commanders quarters: Coles, Medical quarters: Andretta, Main galley, seating area two: Duarte, Main galley, seating area two: Kamul, physics laboratory: Hidson and Miles, as previously reported. Do you have further instructions Commander?”
What was going on? She could understand Andretta’s motives for openly chatting to people in the galley; that was her way of getting everyone used to her presence and accepting her as just another crew member. But what were Miles and Hidson up to? They were both becoming increasingly reclusive: could the unthinkable be true? That Miles was the target? And that he was recruiting the pilot as an unsuspecting accomplice?”
She had to confront them before it became an issue. “Erase my last two entries.”
“Confirmed.”
“Hoverbug to my quarters immediately.”
“Confirmed.”
When Rachmel stepped outside, the vehicle was waiting in the corridor and, once on board, she instructed “Biohibernation section, direct route.”
“So what do we do?” Asked Hidson. “If we confront her, who knows what they may have put in place to save themselves? I say we go to the Commander.”
Miles looked up quickly. “No. We can’t go to the Commander with this.”
“Why not? She’s in charge of this mission; she should know what’s going on.”
“I agree.” Came the voice from the doorway. The two men froze as Rachmel walked into the room: Miles’s mind was racing; he wondered how much she may have overheard.
“So why are two members of my crew having secret meetings and withholding information that could prove detrimental to the success if this mission?”
Hidson was first to break the ensuing silence, “We think Duarte and Kamul are Andretta’s targets.”
“I can understand why Kamul, but why Duarte?”
Hidson retold the account of what he had overheard in the galley and then added “And she was made 2.I.C even though she is the youngest on board with the least experience of field missions; there has to be a reason why she was able to pull enough strings to gain such a position.”
Glancing at each of the two men Rachmel decided to take them into her confidence.
“I agree that Duarte could be the target, but for different reasons than yours; first, she appears to be very agitated by Andretta’s presence but relaxed when speaking to her: second, she did not pull strings to become 2 I C of this mission; that was Andretta’s doing; don’t ask me how or why, but she did it. I must also ask my original question, why were the two of you trying to keep me out of this?”
She looked now directly at Miles who found himself unable to meet her gaze: Hidson also looked to Miles for an answer.
Lowering her tone so as not to intimidate the man further, she asked “So what’s going on? Why didn’t you come to me with this?”
Miles was cornered, with nowhere to go. Raising his head, he looked directly at the Commander and replied “Because I thought the target might be you.”
Both Rachmel and Hidson were taken back by this revelation.
“How could you think it was me? We have served together for twelve years: we are fully acquainted with each others families: we know all there is to know about each other.”
Miles replied, softly, “I didn’t know that your niece was, in fact, your daughter.”
Rachmel was stunned into silence: her outward appearance was one of calm and confidence, but inside was turmoil and anger.
As the two Officers locked stares, Hidson, who had been looking first at one and then the other, at last broke the deadlock, “What the hell’s going on here?”
When no one answered, he went on “If I don’t get an answer, I’m going to utilise the Chief Pilot’s discretionary override: turn this vessel the hell around and get back to base: then you can explain to Missions Command why this crew has been disjointed since day one.”
Again no one spoke as Rachmel struggled to regain her inner composure, and as Miles was regretting his outburst.
Hidson looked directly at Rachmel, who appeared to be totally absorbed in her own thoughts and unaware of his presence; in a low and threatening tone he said “I’m serious Commander; talk to me or I shall abort your mission.”
Finding an inner strength she turned to her Pilot and spoke quietly, “I know you are serious and you have every right to be concerned; what you heard just now was a matter of an extremely personal nature that, to my knowledge, had been confined only to the members of my immediate family. I was somewhat surprised to find that this knowledge has now entered the public domain.”
Miles felt the need to try to turn this situation about. “Commander, I apologise for my outburst, I should never have brought it up, and as far as I am concerned it is not in the public domain, nor shall it ever be.” As an afterthought he added. “I really don’t want this to come between us.”
Rachmel turned to him and considered before speaking and then said “I appreciate and accept your apology, but I would like to know how you came by the information.”
“Andretta: it was something she said when telling me about the alien connection.”
Rachmels brow creased in surprise. “She told you about the alien contact on board?”
Miles nodded, “Yes, I asked her outright why she was here, because I didn’t go for the bullshit story that we were told. She said that one of them was a female with a child; I said it couldn’t be you because you didn’t have children and that’s when she told me.”
Rachmels gaze wondered across to the nearest bio unit and her eyes came to rest upon the name stencilled on it; ANDRETTA.
Andretta! what the hell was this woman doing? She seemed to be giving out different versions of the same story: was this the way she was trying to keep the identity of her target secure? by blowing smoke in everyone’s face?
Hidson broke into her thoughts, “Commander, we need to conference and this is the only place on board where no one can utilise the MAC system to listen in.”
Rachmel looked at her two Officers and replied “I agree, but not here; Andretta is in possession of a personnel detection device and she’ll know if there are three of us together; we will have to use closed–loop conference facility: we need to get back to our quarters.” With that, she turned and left; the two men leaving five minutes later by differing routes.
Andretta arrived at the biohiber section just in time to see the two men disappear around the curvatures of the main passageways and wondered what these two were involved in; she had known for a while through her own resources that they had been meeting in here and closing down their remote interfaces. She considered it was of no consequence, for her mission was quite clear and was completely on track; she would
soon have conclusion and nothing these Officers could do would thwart her.
Taking her unit check list and dismounting from the hoverbug she stepped into the Biohibernation chamber.
With only three days before they were due to go into hibernation status, which was when they would be at their most vulnerable, Rachmel decided it was time to take control of the situation and to hell with Andretta’s mission. Her thoughts were interrupted by MAC.
“Commander, I can report that there is explosive material on board this vessel.”
Rachmel was stunned by the news. “Explain.”
“Chemical components, within the Physics laboratory, have recently been combined to create a primitive form of propellant: the quantity of this propellant would suggest that it is to be employed in the discharge of a bullet.”
“Where is this propellant now?”
“It is in the possession of Leading Physics Officer Kamul who is situated in the Bio-hibernation section.”
“Is anyone else present?”
“Internal Administrator
Andretta: Leading Physics Officer Duarte.”
Rachmel’s mind was racing. They had been right all along; Kamul and Duarte were the agent’s targets and now they were going to kill her.
“Hoverbug to my quarters, immediately; destination bio-hiber section; express mode.”
Andretta stared blandly into Kamul’s clear, and now, hateful eyes. He was standing ten feet away with the self-made pistol pointing directly at her chest. She knew that if she could halve the distance between them, he would never get the chance to pull the trigger: leaning from one foot to the other she used the movement to step forward just a few inches.
Duarte appeared in the doorway to his side and stared in horror at the insanity that was unfolding before her. “What in the name of God are you doing?” She asked, incredulously. “You could die for this; and how did you get a weapon on board?”
“I made the damn thing, and an S E D round; so it doesn’t matter what happens to me; she dies: I’m dead anyway; that’s why the bitch is here, for me.”
Duarte was puzzled. “What do you mean by an S E D round? What’s that supposed to be?”
Andretta broke in. “It means ‘selective electrical discharge’ and it is still in the early stages of testing. Basically, it is being developed as a specialization weapon to be used in assassinations. The target’s D N A is acquired and incorporated into a nano-chip which is then connected to an electrical discharge bullet which, when fired, will seek out the target with the corresponding D N A, within a set distance. The discharge is severe enough to explode the victim’s heart.”
Addressing Kamul, she went on “You gained a sample of my D N A from the item of underwear that you stole from the disintegration unit when you broke into my quarters.”
Prolonging the situation in order to reduce the distance between them, she added “You may care little for your own life but what of your immediate family? If you kill me they will be stripped of all wealth, assets and accommodations and become outcasts, forced to live as primitives in a world where primitives cannot survive.”
INTERVENTION Page 7
