The Ultimate Mystery Thriller Horror Box Set (7 Mystery Thriller Horror Bestsellers)

by Perkins, Cathy

  It was the first thing that came to mind, but harmless enough. The Oceanians wouldn’t give their technology and the keys to their information systems to a foreign power they were on the brink of war with. He merely offered a face saving way out.

  Napoleon smiled. “There might be a few hurdles, but we welcome anyone with a sincere desire to learn.”

  The thought made Brett sick to his stomach, but the Space Force could be counted on to veto it. Surely the Oceanians would pry more knowledge out of his head with their own technology then Brett could hope to acquire about them.

  Some of Brett’s response must have shown on his face. Napoleon sounded a shade disappointed. “Or should we just say the experience made you think about it, but not actually do it? Becoming part of the supermind is actually a lot of effort, not something you could do halfheartedly.”

  So Brett wouldn’t need an excuse after all.

  Then Napoleon added, “If you only wanted to gain the same accelerated learning and medical monitoring most Oceanians have, it would be easier.”

  Once the Oceanians were inside his head, only they would know what they had done and what they had taken.

  Brett lied smoothly, “I’ll think it over thank you.”

  Napoleon turned to Michael again. “If he does get the infusion, maybe you could ask Ariel to accompany him. He’s sure to be nervous, and has no local friends.”

  Brett blinked. Surely the man didn’t know Michael.

  Napoleon’s voice grew louder and sharper again. “It would demonstrate that you were trying to help Major Johnson understand us, rather than turning the Princedom of the Feast at Herbirthday Unlayn into an arena for extracting petty revenge for pettier jealousy.”

  Why should Michael be jealous of him? Instead of asking, Brett said, “Shouldn’t you talk to Ariel about that? She’s standing right there.”

  The man had gotten his way in almost everything, but Brett suspected a limit had been reached.

  Napoleon didn’t. “Ariel was my student for a long time. I think that –”

  Despite himself, Brett’s attention sharpened at the notion of learning more about Ariel. What had she studied?

  She interrupted Napoleon. “Have you by any chance learned anything from me?”

  Had she taught some other subject? Brett was tired of having no idea what anyone was talking about. Asking everyone to stop and explain was out of the question. He wanted this conflict forgotten since it couldn’t benefit his mission.

  Napoleon nodded, seemed about to speak, but Ariel wasn’t through. “But not enough for me ever to have been your teacher in any meaningful sense?”

  Napoleon shook his head. “I never said –”

  Brett suppressed a grin as she continued. Then he was distracted from his amusement. Part of his mission was to learn about the Oceanian system. He would write a report on what he had learned, and the next time he communicated with the Firestorm from the shielded VR conference room in the embassy they would discuss it. Suddenly he could imagine being ordered to accept Napoleon’s offer. A well placed spy could be worth thousands of troops. He might risk more than his life. Oceania might devour his soul.

  Chapter 10

  Brett sat in a metal chair bolted to the floor. The white section of conference table in front of him was shaped like a wedge of pie, with him seated at the curved rim of the quarter circle. He put on glasses and saw a large round conference table at which he sat alone. The chair and slice of the table had the same shape in virtual and physical reality, eliminating vertigo and the danger of bumping into invisible obstacles or trying to lean on intangible objects. Cameras in the corners of the room scanned foreign objects and duplicated them in the virtual reality.

  It turned out Colonel Barr had other priorities than Brett’s report. He began, “We’re updating three contingency plans. Plan A is to eliminate the Oceanian ability to produce Nanotech machines militarily before they know what’s happening, while minimizing civilian casualties. Plan B involves giving them an ultimatum and a week’s notice. Plan C involves putting teeth into the embargo.”

  Brett took a breath. “Sir, from what I’ve learned plan A isn’t workable.”

  Barr’s expression did not change as Brett continued. “We’re not talking about a few large assembly plants, or factory complexes concentrated in a few cities. Each stage of production has a number of companies competing for business, with no bottleneck we could plug.”

  Brett watched the Colonel frown as he continued. “The problem is the same with B. We couldn’t do it. The location of the people and the equipment of many smaller companies aren’t even available to us.”

  The conclusion was inevitable. “Plan C is more of the same. That won’t do either. The blockade is already as tight as we can make it.”

  The Colonel nodded agreement. “If we want them to sense our seriousness we’ve got to be serious. If we have no plan besides waiting for them to see we mean business, then we don’t.”

  The Colonel didn’t mention any plan D formulated in response to the collapse of all three original plans. Brett knew where this was going. With a heavy feeling in his gut he said, “I suppose you read my report on Herbirthday.”

  Colonel Barr replied, “I did.”

  “Too bad I have so much intelligence information in my head. The Space Force could never let me take up that offer.”

  Barr slumped into an unmilitary posture. “I’m sorry Brett. I’m not ordering you to do this, or even asking you to volunteer, but I’m ordered not to forbid it.”

  It was on the table. Brett replied reluctantly. “Nobody’s ordering me – but I guess they see it as a no-lose situation for us.”

  Barr replied bluntly, “Except for you. You didn’t sign up for this.”

  He didn’t have to volunteer. Maybe his superiors, and the Senator, would understand. Even if they didn’t, so what?

  It was just that many lives could be saved on both sides if the war were shortened, or prevented.

  Colonel Barr asked, “Did that man really have the authority to make such an offer?”

  Brett didn’t think it would be that simple. “Sir, they have a long tradition of accepting people from other worlds. If they use part of people’s brainpower without the owners being aware of it, I’ve found no evidence.”

  Then he broke eye contact and stared down at the table. Barr would understand the unprofessional demeanor, or if not, the hell with him. Brett wasn’t going to let anyone hear him whine, but it felt so unfair. He would rather have been headed into combat.

  Finally he took a deep breath and looked up. “Sir, forget for the moment pumping creepy micromachines into my veins. If I make it home, do I spend the rest of my life being debriefed in a small room under close supervision just in case I have undetectable conditioning?”

  As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Brett realized it sounded as if he were more worried about Federalist paranoia than the Oceanians.

  Barr’s reply helped a little. “I won’t make promises I can’t keep, but I won’t forget about you if you’re incommunicado, and I know others in my chain of command who won’t either.”

  All pretexts for delay were gone. Brett said, “There’s no excuse for my refusing, really. How long do I have to think about it?”

  Barr grinned. “As long as you want to, as far as I’m concerned. Nobody gave me any deadline.”

  Neither of them mentioned that he hadn’t officially been asked to do anything.

  After a pause Brett said, “If I didn’t want to save lives, I shouldn’t have joined the Space Force.”

  Barr sat in silence a few moments, shaking his head slowly. “On the other hand, why you? Perhaps some of the staff officers who like this idea so much should have the opportunity to come down and volunteer.”

  Brett was touched. “Sir, were you supposed to encourage me to do this?”

  Barr straightened, and then hunched forward, the resultant posture still not very military. “It occurred to me, bu
t I’m not going to impute underhanded manipulations to our superiors. If they meant that they would have said so.”

  Brett felt some of the tension go out of him. He wasn’t alone. The situation was still the same though. Staff officers from on board the flagship weren’t going to come down and take his place. Barr’s dry wit would become laugh out loud hilarious under easier circumstances.

  “Colonel, here’s the thing. Sometimes superior officers consider me a pain for telling them stuff they don’t want to hear. But I always figured I wasn’t being a wiseass for fun, I was doing it for the good of the Space Force.”

  “Mostly you were.”

  Brett went on, “And if I had an attitude, I made up for it by doing what was right, no matter what the cost.”

  Barr started to open his mouth, but Brett continued. “It’s too late for me to start being pleasant, so either I do this or admit I’m a fraud.”

  Barr repeated, “You don’t have to do this. I’m not even sure there’s any point. How will you learn anything? Will you give us valid information once you’ve been infected? Will we know to trust you even if you do?”

  Brett shrugged. “I’m sure intelligence will have fun making up their minds about relying on my data. The upside is huge. They might learn more if they find I’m brainwashed.”

  Despite his brave words, Brett now had two problems. Most of the Oceanians seemed to live normal lives, but he would be of great strategic value to control. If they didn’t consume him, interrogation by his own side lay in his future.

  “Take your time thinking it over, Brett. Don’t let anyone pressure you if they don’t want to take responsibility for issuing orders.”

  Barr lifted his hands to his face. Presumably he was removing his VR glasses, which were edited out of Brett’s view in favor of Barr’s eyes, which were scanned by a tiny camera inside the glasses. Barr politely walked out of the conference room instead of disconnecting, so Brett saw him leave via door instead of popping out of existence. Brett sat thinking in the empty room for a minute or so.

  Brett closed his eyes, removed the glasses, then waited a few seconds before opening them again. This was the textbook way to remove VR glasses without getting dizzy, which he hadn’t bothered with in a long time.

  Now he sat alone at a little section of conference table, facing the corner of the small room.

  Chapter 11

  Ambassador Nocker said earnestly, “Doctor Johnson, I want to add my apologies to those you’ve already received for how you were treated at the Ulayn Herbirthday celebration.”

  A butterfly fluttered outside the screen, which enclosed the same porch which had hosted their previous negotiations. Right now Brett felt no impulse to allow the beauty of nature to distract him from the endless talk. Nocker had put himself almost where Brett wanted him.

  Brett leaned back against the carved wooden chair, trying to speak casually instead of sounding ready to pounce. “I can’t help wondering if you’re worried about the wrong thing. Yes I was made to feel isolated, but no big deal. What about all the other people there, manipulated into not seeing me, not noticing me, or making mistaken assumptions about me?”

  Nocker frowned. “I don’t think you can really claim to speak for them. Many would regret the perversion of tradition, but few would feel personally victimized. Are we working round to another claim that we should be grateful to be liberated from the hive mind whose dangers we don’t fully appreciate?”

  Put that way, it sounded silly, but Brett could do better. “Not quite. But if I tried to suggest some unseen dangers of the nanotechnological interface, it does seem you would assume any concern is based on a raw unreasoning fear by members of the Federalist Worlds.”

  Nocker replied, “Not assume as such. But during these particular negotiations, you might not be too interested in dispassionately considering any criticisms we might offer of your political or military system.”

  Damn. That was true. But Brett still had a point to make. “It does seem a lot of young people come here with unreasonable expectations, especially before the blockade went into effect. That seems to weight against your idea of blind fear.”

  Nocker shook his head. “Wish fulfillment and fear fulfillment are two sides of the same coin.”

  Suddenly Brett wondered if whatsisname – Tetsudo – included the verbal art of self defense. Nocker was turning everything around. Even so, Brett pressed ahead. “I’m considering Napoleon’s suggestion. Would anything I do get us beyond the notion that we’re driven by blind fear regarding Oceania instead of rational caution?”

  Nocker hesitated – and Ames answered instead. “Not really. We’re not concerned about the emotions of one man, but of trillions. Napoleon’s offer to you was well meant, but in some ways it looks back to a time when Oceanians believed everyone would eagerly embrace our technology after it was shown to them. I respect tradition, but in some respects the old guard needs to give way to the new.”

  Nocker turned to stare at Ames, and for the first time Brett wondered if different factions were represented by the two men. Before the older Oceanian could speak, Ames continued. “I realize how uncomfortable even the suggestion must have made you. I’m sorry for that, but assure you there was no ill intention. You can forget the whole thing.”

  Somehow they had progressed from theories about the motivations of the Federalist Worlds to a discussion of Brett. The implication that the mere thought would unbalance him stung.

  Williams answered for him. “I assure you Major Johnson will make his decision on policy grounds, and received the offer in good part. For the moment perhaps we should move on to …”

  Brett tried to follow the discussion, but ideas crowded into his mind. Could a rift in the Oceanian government be exploited? In the bright morning sunlight the exploration of nanotechnology seemed more like an adventure and less like doom. Despite everything, he felt curious and a longing still lingered for the community he had witnessed. After a discussion with Napoleon, Ariel had indeed volunteered to help him get started. It would be fun to see her again, although Brett knew he wasn’t silly enough to let that weigh significantly in such a momentous decision.

  When they finally wound up for the day, Brett wondered how much he had missed in his distraction. He hoped there wouldn’t be questions about it later. Colonel Barr had arranged another virtual conference for the afternoon.

  “Major Johnson, this is Lieutenant General Pendergastman. He’s not in your chain of command, and you won’t be reporting to him, but I’ve invited him today to ask you a few questions.”

  The sour expression on Colonel Barr’s face vanished quickly, but there were other clues to his feelings about Pendergastman. A one-star general could properly be referred to as ‘General Pendergastman,’ but Barr declined to do so. Then the emphasis on what Brett already knew, that he did not report to Pendergastman.

  Brett shifted his attention to the general. Every crease in his uniform was sharp, and his mustache trimmed with military precision. Did Barr consider the man a martinet? Or did he believe the rumors about Pendergastman? There were certain interrogation techniques the Space Force tried hard to avoid, but which circumstances sometimes required in an emergency. Pendergastman was said to be an expert on these techniques, and a bit too comfortable using them.

  The general said, “Senator Peterson suggested I speak with you.”

  That raised the man a couple of notches in Brett’s estimation. “Sir, what can I help you with?”

  Pendergastman replied, “Part of your mission is to find weaknesses in the Oceanian military which will make the war easier to win if it can’t be avoided. Tell me what you’ve found.”

  Surely the general had talked this over with Barr – it hadn’t been too long since the previous conference where this was covered. Brett suspected Lieutenant General Pendergastman was leading up to something else, but he answered directly and didn’t try to leap ahead.

  “General, our previous thoughts may have been headed i
n the wrong direction, looking for an urban or industrial bottleneck which we could plug. I understand their soldiers wear caps and hip booster boxes, just as the civilians do. I suspect the wireless communications between these devices isn’t too much different from that used by our own machines. An electromagnetic pulse at a critical moment could disrupt enemy operations. If they get more out of their equipment they must be more dependent on it and will take valuable time before they switch to ordinary means of communications. They could be quite dependent on nanotechnology, perhaps less able to operate as individuals, even after they recover from the shock.”

  Pendergastman grunted. “Uh. It’s been tried – in use even when you worked on Roundhouse. The equipment is shielded, so it takes a big bang to effect even a limited area. And the soldiers recover faster than you think.”

  Brett thought a moment. “I’ll keep working on it, but there’s something else I wanted to try meanwhile. I’m probably monitored, but I doubt all the people I’m interviewing are. One might cooperate. Even just going to a bookstore and buying some nonclassified books on the technology could get us more than expected.”

  The general made the noise again. “Uh. That’s been done too. We had samples of the technology even before Roundhouse. Even a few people who knew how to use it. Emigration isn’t all one way, you know.”

  Brett inhaled, took a moment to phase his comment carefully. “General, with respect, it seems like I could be given more classified background information than I have been to direct me in the right direction.”

  No more grunts. Instead Pendergastman fixed his hard black eyes directly on Brett. “You’re not an intelligence analyst. Your orders involve the gathering of data, and it’s your job to find a way to do so.”

  Brett replied cautiously, “Sir, it sounds almost as if you feel there’s only one way to do that job, and even though you’re not supposed to order me to use that way, you consider it implied in the instructions I have received.”