**********
Midday saw President Michaels looking the worse for wear after his interrupted night, but he was still patiently going through the many files that always littered his desk. He was interrupted when his personal assistant and adviser knocked on the door and then entered.
"This has just come in from the Federal Investigation Security Department, a? Special Agent Formby it says here sent it over marked personal and urgent, for you Sir."
"Thank you Jevons, give it to me, it is about the explosion last night at the Chichester Laboratories."
Michaels scanned through the report. Yes, Formby wrote, the security detail had all been poisoned, by a new poison not yet positively identified, but similar to ones known to forensics. They target the heart and shut it down. The three scientists and the three laboratory assistants had all been killed in the laboratory by Phaser fire; they did not stand a chance. Our men are still checking as to why the detectors did not sound the alarm when the killers entered carrying the Phasers, but they think that it might be that they were carried inside the crate, and that it had some sort of shielding that hid them from the detectors. They also found the body of one of the technicians, outside in the hallway; he must have been enjoying a spot of overtime, he had been killed too. His murderer used a number of Phaser bolts to kill him, which seemed strange as professionals rarely went in for such sadistic ways of killing, when on a job.
The two figures shown on the new security camera are too well hidden for positive identification, but one of them was a woman and the other a man. There was something weird about them though, the camera which also operates as a sensor picked up traces of Spartan B, which it seems, is well known to our forensic boys, and which they inform me is only to be found around starship engine rooms, there and on people or objects that have been in one recently.
The forensic team is still investigating the ruins of the laboratory to see if any further leads are forthcoming, Oh and the criminals wanted everything within the laboratory destroyed, our boffins say that otherwise they would not have used so much explosive, unfortunately they do not know who made the explosive yet.
One more piece of information that I have only just received from Forensics, they think that all the data banks of the computers were downloaded prior to the explosion. They also cannot find any trace of a gadget that they think might have been referred to as the Heart of the Matter Transporter, not even a piece of its twisted wreckage, which they say is impossible, unless it also was stolen prior to the explosion.
Michaels reread these last few lines again and then exploded himself.
"Jevons, will you please come in here immediately."
A startled Jevons rushed back into the room.
"Read that last paragraph." Michaels thrust the report into Jevons` hands who quickly read the part indicated.
"My God, someone has stolen the Matter Transporter." Jevons gasped.
"Yes Jevons, clear all of my appointments for the rest of the day, we are going to be busy."
"I will do it immediately, Sir." Jevons said and hurried from the room to do just that. Five minutes later, he knocked on the door of President Michaels` office and entered.
"Right Sir, I have cleared all your appointments until five thirty, which is with Admiral Fletcher of the Space Fleet, and seeing how things are, you might need to see him about this matter." Jevons said.
"Yes of course, now read what I have written down so far Jevons." President Michaels stress levels were reaching critical, and so he decided to bring them down a shade by taking some of it out on Jevons.
"Oh! Do sit down Jevons." Michaels ordered impatiently and indicated that Jevons should sit opposite him and then gave him his note pad.
Jevons read what President Michaels had written so far. The top line on the note pad read, 'Who could have committed this particular crime,' and under this, Michaels had written the following list.
1. Could it be someone on Earth? No, for anyone coming up with a Matter Transporter would immediately identify himself as a party to the crime.
2. Tyler Burrows on Orion up to his old tricks again. No, I have personally called Brian Goddard, as have some other people that Tyler Burrows trusts, Johansson and Rogers, who have assured him that the Matter Transporter was just that, it was designed to help starships and space stations. It could not cross force fields or go back in time, only a time machine could do this. Anyway far too many innocent people were killed for Burrows to have been involved, he is Mr Squeaky Clean, and in any case, the dead scientists had been his friends.
3. It could be some weird terrorist mob with some strange agenda. If so then Special Agent Formby could be left to look into that.
4. Could it be an alien spy? I will have to contact Tom Parkinson at the Interstellar Investigations Bureau and ask him if he has any suitable candidates.
The last of the items on the list and numbered 5 was a question. Who would know that the Matter Transporter was completed, and who would know what to steal? The six dead scientists were obviously the main suspects here, and whichever of them did do it, they had paid for this act of treason with their life. This once again could be left to Special Agent Formby.
"Have you read it yet Jevons?" Michaels asked for he was impatient to move on.
"Yes Sir and I concur with everything that you have written down."
"Good, then while you phone Formby and ask him to look into any of the local weirdoes and of course the people at the laboratory, I will call Tom Parkinson and arrange to see him in my office." Michaels said briskly.
Jevons went back into his office, he was soon speaking with Formby, and brought him up to date with the President`s thinking. Formby was quiet for a moment before he replied.
"Well Mr Jevons, I have reached similar conclusions myself and have already got twenty of our agents looking into the matter, hopefully I will be able to bring you up to date later today. I, myself am following up a different lead. The technician who also died, a Mr Percival Wallace, he should have been at home when it all went down, for he finished around eight that evening. We heard Johansson saying on the security tapes that he would see him in the morning for the grand unveiling, why was he not at home? Unfortunately, those particular security tapes were turned off at about the same time that the security guards died. I believe that he could have been the source of the information leak. He certainly knew enough about the Matter Transporter to tell the murders just what to steal, and what they needed to download. I think he is worth a closer look at. I have put another team to look into the lives of the three scientists, and the three auxiliaries who died along with them, checking their homes, their bank accounts and of course their friends and neighbours. They are also trying to trace that girl, see if they can find out who it was that invited her along. But my money is on the technician, Mr Jevons; you wait and see he will be the man that we end up with." Formby said his voice full of confidence. "And unfortunately for me, he`s dead already."
"Yes, it was unfortunate for him also." Jevons said sarcastically before ringing off.
President Michaels meantime was speaking to Tom Parkinson. Parkinson had been head of the Interstellar Investigations Bureau for twenty-three years and he had been very successful at his job. He was also very popular and his tall slim figure was always to be seen at the best parties. His blue eyes often had a wicked smile in them and his blond hair still full despite his fifty odd years of age.
"You heard about the explosion, Tom?" Michaels asked, knowing that Parkinson was surely to have heard by now.
"Yes, I should have thought that everyone has by now, seeing as you are so personally tied up with the research program." Parkinson replied grimly.
"Yes, well that aside, I want you to come over here now so that we can talk about the people who could be responsible." Michaels replied testily.
"Ok, I will be there in ten minutes." Therefore, he was.
"Since Tyler Burrows took out the Indefatigable, things have been quiet in space.
A lot of people out there associated him with you, they were sure that he was an agent of yours, and after what he did on Orion they are too scared that you will send him over to see them, so they have been good. In fact I have encouraged this view, this is the quietest time I`ve had in ages, apart from the odd pirate raid." Parkinson said, seeing but ignoring the anger smouldering deep within Michaels.
Parkinson was quiet for a moment while he thought things over, and President Michaels let him have a few moments to collect his thoughts while he fought to compose himself. It was Parkinson`s remark regarding Tyler Burrows being thought by all and sundry to have been working for him, if he had been he would have been fired, damn and blast the man, would no one ever let him forget his time on Orion.
"There is one planet though that could have been involved, Aldebra, a military dictatorship run by a weirdo. His Excellency Quasar, Emperor of the Galaxy, Ruler of the Universe, is what he calls himself. He would be good for a laugh, unfortunately, he rules his people with a rod of iron, murdered many of them and now no one on Aldebra dares to complain about him. I do have a man out there, runs a small spy ring of about six agents, you know him, Ray Connors and his wife Jean, in your past life as a space marine you worked with him during the war with Lyre. I could contact him; see if he can find anything out." Parkinson offered.
"Yes I remember Ray and Jean Connors, so they are working as a couple of your agents again."
President Michaels` thoughts went back to a more pleasant time in his life for just a moment; it had all seemed so easy then, black and white, life in the capital was not anywhere near as easy.
"Please do Tom, and as soon as you can, the matter is urgent, we don`t want potential enemies to have our technology, especially when we don`t have it ourselves." President Michaels stressed.
"Ok, I will do it immediately I get back to my office, and if anything comes of it I`ll let you know. I will also put the word out to my other agents to keep me informed on anything that may crop up, no matter how small you never can tell just what could be of help." Tom Parkinson said.
"One thing that is on our side, Sir, if there is an alien involved in all this, they couldn`t have transmitted the data off Earth because of the Sentry System that you had installed after you returned from Orion. We would have realized that there was a spy at work when all the scientific mumbo jumbo began to go through, and shut him down, for there is no code on Earth capable of encrypting the amount of scientific data and drawings that made up the Matter Transporter program. And of course the hardware will have to be taken off world today, because by tomorrow morning the new addition to the Sentry Security System will notify us if someone has a piece of technology composed of almost solid Crystillium, should they try to transport it off the planet."
Tom Parkinson left the President`s Office to see to his end of the problem, leaving a slightly annoyed President behind him, why did everyone date everything from the time he returned from Orion.
The first thing that Tom Parkinson did on his return to his office was to write and then encode a long message to his man on Aldebra, a Mr Ray Connors. Only after this did he send out a general call to all his other agents out in deep space to forward to him anything, however small, that occurred around them. Parkinson knew that this would mean a lot of useless information coming his way, thank god for computers, for they would soon sift the chaff from the wheat.
Rebirth Page 4
