ARMS Harris' Revenge

by Arseneault, Stephen

  Harris replied, “Maybe she can take a look at the colonel’s cyber team. He’s been saying they’ve been struggling to stay on top of things. Might be she would be good at sniffing out Earther spies for us.”

  Sharvie nodded. “I appreciate the work. I’ll do just about anything you ask.”

  The five boarded the shuttle, heading back to Eden.

  Sharvie looked out a window as the shuttle approached the atmosphere of the desert planet. “That is so cool. I can’t believe I’m riding with a slug and a stump to a planet in the truce zone.”

  The new hire squinted as the ship drew closer to Eden, moving from the dark side into the intense sunlight that baked the desert below.

  “Wow. That is bright. I knew it was a desert world, but I didn’t think it would look like that.”

  “Other than microbes,” said Gandy, “there’s no other life down there. Too hot. Without the proper gear you’d last all of ten minutes outside at high noon.”

  “Isn’t there somewhere better we could get titanium from?”

  Gandy shook his head. “It’s not us that needs it, it’s the Earthers. We’re trying to keep it out of their hands. There’s enough titanium down there for them to build thousands of new warships. Either we take it, or the Great War restarts.”

  The shuttle experienced a few moments of minor buffeting before coming to a stop and settling under the edge of the dome in the docking bay.

  Harris turned, “You know where the cafeteria is. Give her a tour of the dome and we’ll meet you back there for lunch in a couple hours. We’re heading out to get the Bangor.”

  Gandy frowned. “If you’re worried about her knowing about our hiding place, don’t bother. We already told her.”

  Harris sighed as he put his head down. “Great. One more person who’s vulnerable to interrogation. What all did you say? Hold it…”

  Harris removed his comm bracelet and signaled for the others to do the same. The five stepped out into the open heat of the bay.

  Sharvie winced as the scorching air attacked her body. “Ooh, this is extreme. I feel like I’m standing in front of a giant heat-lamp.”

  Trish said, “And you won’t get used to it either.”

  After moving a short distance from the shuttle, Harris took control of the conversation. “Just wanted to reiterate, no talk about Midelon when we have comms with us. And no talk of hiding places or anything else. Sharvie, you should know this, the bugs you found planted on the Banshee, those could be from our own DDI or they could be from Earther spies. Either way, we don’t talk about where we’re about to go.”

  Harris looked at Gandy. “Does she know about Farker?”

  Gandy half frowned. “She knows about everything. But we can trust her.”

  “It’s not about trusting her,” said Tawn. “It’s about the DDI or the Earther security forces getting a hold of her. They would find out everything she knows. And when they were done, if they let her live, she wouldn’t even know what happened. That goes for each of us. We have to keep this information tight. Anyone else finds out that we know something, we all become targets.”

  “Won’t happen again,” replied Gandy.

  Harris gestured toward the shuttle. “Let’s go get our ship.”

  Just over an hour later, the shuttle settled in the grass field beside the Bangor.

  Harris opened the hatch, hopping out onto the ground. “Sharvie, before we go anywhere, I’d like to see your computer skills put to use. Scour this shuttle for any bugs or signs of tracking software. When you’re done here, you can start on the Bangor. Beginning today, we go dark. Let me have everyone’s comms.”

  Harris raised a boot.

  Tawn said, “Hold up there, Hoss. Why destroy those now? We may need them while we’re here. You can stomp ‘em when we’re ready to leave.”

  “I guess that makes sense. Here, take them back.”

  Tawn looked over at the bunker. “You think it will let us in there?”

  Harris shrugged. “Not sure. Farker normally runs for the door when we let him out. Doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere right now.”

  Tawn stepped down to the grass and walked to the bunker door. It opened for her.

  Harris quickly followed. “That’s different.”

  Tawn walked in, taking a seat at the table.

  The image of Alexander Gaerten appeared.

  “Hello, Tawn. Welcome back.”

  “Why was I allowed in this time?”

  The image smiled. “You are recognized as a friend. Your actions have shown you to be respectful. As stated before, with time, you may be allowed further into this complex.”

  Harris patted Tawn on the shoulder. “Keep it up. You may be in for a special award from the cyber-genius.”

  The AI image asked, “Was that sarcasm, Harris?”

  “Ah. It was.”

  “You enjoy sarcastic speak?”

  “I guess I do. What of it?”

  “Nothing in particular. That note will be added to your file.”

  Tawn chuckled. “You’ve been logged.”

  Harris asked, “What exactly do we have to do to get further access?”

  “Be trustworthy.”

  “Trustworthy? Don’t you have to do or accomplish something to earn that?”

  “Yes.”

  “OK, so what can we do to be deemed more trustworthy?”

  “Your ships have recording devices. Those will have to be removed.”

  “You mean like our log files from traveling?”

  “There are sixteen recording devices on the ship you call Bangor. The ship you recently arrived on has five.”

  Tawn reacted. “Sixteen? That’s aside from the ship’s computer system?”

  A slowly rotating image of the ship appeared where the floating head had been. “Since the craft with the moniker of Bangor has been residing here, sixteen devices have attempted to connect to an external comm. That places your craft under suspicion. Communications that have no known destination are not to be trusted. Can you explain the purpose of these devices?”

  Harris pointed at the image. “Are those flashing red dots the location of the devices?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then no. I can’t explain them. I mean I can, but they are not ours.”

  “Please explain.”

  “We have an organization called the Domicile Defense Intelligence force, or DDI. They like to keep tabs on people so they can better defend our world. Those were placed on there for them to track our travels. Not by us, by them. We knew there were two such devices. And each time we’ve returned from here they have been scrubbed of any logs. So we didn’t think it mattered.”

  “I see. But you did allow them to be brought here.”

  Harris shrugged. “We can’t remove them or the DDI will want to know why. So long as they are scrubbed each time, what’s it matter?”

  The image of Alexander Gaerten returned. “It matters, Harris, because my ability to probe and locate such devices is limited. It is against the policy of this complex, and of my programming, to allow any such logging data to be taken from this facility.”

  “Well then, help us to take them off. We’d rather the whereabouts of this ship not be known anyway. And that’s by the DDI or anyone else.”

  The image asked, “Would you like to remove the devices now?”

  Harris nodded. “Would be happy to.”

  The image of the Bangor returned. “Please use this hologram to identify each of the devices. Point to an individual device for a more complete image of that area of your craft.”

  Harris held out a finger. “That one looks like a good first candidate. Is that on the doorframe?”

  “As you enter the ship from outside, just to your left, a third of the way up the seal, you will find a three centimeter by two centimeter device with an approximate thickness of one millimeter. It appears to be bonded to the interior of the hull.”

  Harris walked out of the room, returning two
minutes later. “I was looking right at it and almost didn’t see it. Same color as the wall it was attached to. Tucked nicely behind that seal as well.”

  The device was set on the table. A second point was made and the area enlarged.

  Harris returned several minutes later. “Same device, just on the other side of the hatch door. Would have never guessed it was a bug.”

  Tawn stood. The image disappeared as the hologram shut down.

  Harris said, “Now what’d you do that for?”

  “I was gonna go help.”

  “You can help by sitting your butt back down in the chair. I got this.”

  Tawn returned to her seat and the image of Alexander Gaerten flashed into view. “Welcome, Tawn.”

  Harris leaned in. “Can you bring the image of the Bangor up? Show us the location of the devices we were just talking about.”

  The image of the ship returned. The next thirty-four minutes were spent stripping bugging devices from the centuries-old warship.

  When the last of the recorders had been removed, Harris dropped it on the table. “There you have it. Sixteen.”

  An image of the shuttle appeared. “Please remove the five items from the newly-arrived ship.”

  Harris shook his head. “You’re just never satisfied, are you.”

  “Was that sarcasm?”

  Harris chuckled. “Yep.”

  “Excellent. Then please get your enormous head out to that ship and finish the job.”

  Tawn burst out laughing. “I am liking this AI. It’s already got you figured out.”

  Harris half frowned. “I’m not complex. Surprised it took this long.”

  With a scowl, the Biomarine turned and exited the bunker.

  Chapter 19

  _______________________

  Harris set the last bug on the table.

  “Harris? Do you notice anything unusual about the devices?”

  “Yeah, these thirteen all look similar. These three are very different.”

  The image of Alexander Gaerten returned. “Precisely. The three devices you have termed as different have attempted to communicate over a frequency often used by the New Earth Empire.”

  Tawn asked, “You saying we had New Earth bugs on our ship?”

  The image nodded. “It would appear so.”

  “How do you know the Earthers use that frequency?”

  “After you suggested that I open a wormhole to both Domicile and New Earth, I have been listening to each. It took several days to filter the signals and decode the encryption. It seems the New Earth Empire is ahead of you with regards to security. The Domicile frequency encryption was decoded in just over half the time.”

  Harris cut in: “Wait… are you telling us you can listen in on Earther communications?”

  “I can.”

  “Is there any way for us to be able to do that?”

  The image replied, “The partial artificial brain in Archibald has the ability to decode the New Earth encryption. However, if the base frequency is unknown, that effort may take some time to accomplish.”

  “How long is some time?”

  “Perhaps three to four standard days.”

  “How long if the base frequency is known?”

  “Several minutes.”

  “How do we find this base frequency?”

  “The base frequency can be obtained by monitoring a broadcast.”

  Tawn asked, “So all we need to do is detect a broadcast and a few minutes later we can listen in?”

  “That is a correct statement.”

  Harris said, “This could be huge. We could know what the Earthers are planning before they make a move.”

  Tawn nodded. “That would offer a huge advantage.”

  Harris walked out to the Bangor. “Sharvie? How’s it going?”

  “There were four monitoring applications on your computer. And another in your environmental system. And one in your power system. The log files in each of those only go back as far as your last trip to Domicile. They’ve all been eradicated.

  “Never seen anything like these programs. Very well disguised. I only stumbled onto the first one by mistake. That led to the discovery of the others. As far as I can tell, we have them all.”

  Harris looked down with a chuckle. “Farker? You think the ship is clean of bugs?”

  The simulated canine returned a single fark.

  Harris replied, “Great… looks like we still have issues. Can you tell us where the bug is, boy?”

  The dog trotted two steps to an interior wall, placing his nose onto a conduit that ran the length of the wall. Trish and Gandy pulled the tools needed to open the utility run, revealing a passive recorder inside. Harris, giving orders to his pet, proceeded to find an additional four recorders.

  Tawn returned from the bunker. “Looks like I’m still just a friend to the doctor in there. I answered a few dozen more questions. He said I wasn’t yet ready for the next step.”

  “My dog is sniffing out more bugs.”

  “This is insane,” said Tawn. “We were nothing more than a flying recording station. So did we get them all?”

  Farker returned three farks.

  Harris reached down to rub the simulated fur head of his pet. “I think we have. Now we need to do the same to the shuttle.”

  Half an hour later, both ships were declared bug free.

  Gandy asked, “So what’s next? You think the bunker will give us access?”

  Harris waved a hand toward the shuttle hatch. “Go see. Just stand in front of it. If it finds you worthy, it will let you in.”

  Gandy and Trish returned several minutes later. “Nothing. Maybe I need to run in there next time you go in.”

  Harris winced. “I’d rather not risk it. Tawn and I are on its good side right now and I want to keep it that way.”

  “Might be time we head back to Eden,” said Tawn. “Whenever we’re away I get the feeling something big is about to happen.”

  Harris replied, “How about this: we head back but stop short. If the Earther ships are still in orbit, we sit and listen for that base frequency the AI was talking about. If we catch it, we start decoding their communications.”

  Tawn nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

  The two ships jumped into Eden space. The shuttle continued on to the planet while the Bangor held fast. Sharvie remained with Tawn and Harris, overseeing the use of Farker as a decryption tool for the Earther communications. Four comm channels being exchanged between two Earther destroyers were the first to become available.

  Sharvie pushed a channel to the comm speaker. “…forty kilos. I can fit it in a standard container if you want. I show a shuttle scheduled to head your way in about an hour.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Puchkin. That will be adequate.”

  The conversation continued for several minutes before it was determined to be between maintenance workers on the two destroyers. The trading of supplies was a common occurrence between ships out onstation.

  A second and then a third conversation yielded similar results. The fourth was between ship captains.

  “…I would not disagree with that, Mamood. They will get what’s coming to them in about fifteen minutes. And our Domer friends will do nothing about it.”

  “Good. That means our efforts here can finally get underway.”

  A third voice could be heard over the comm channel. “Excuse me, Captain, you asked for the identity of the second ship. The one that remains at its jump point. It is the same ship that attempted to pirate our titanium freighter.”

  Harris looked down at his console with a scowl. “Gah. Forgot to turn on our stealth. They’ve been looking right at us this whole time.”

  Tawn shook her head. “So much for listening in on them.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  Tawn pointed at the name display. “Because they’re coming our way. Should we jump, or head for the surface?”

  Harris thought for a moment. “Let’s head down
. They aren’t gonna do anything down there while our cruisers are sitting in orbit.”

  Tawn took control of the stick. “You got it. Should be on the ground in about twenty minutes. And no, they won’t make it to us before we make it down. I’ll angle us toward those cruisers. That should give them some pause.”

  Fifteen minutes into the run toward the surface, two wormholes opened in front of the Domicile cruisers. The heavy warships slipped silently through and the portals closed after them.

  “Why would they leave?” asked Tawn.

  A comm came in from Fireburg. “Harris, we have trouble. It appears the Earthers are on to our shenanigans with their well. They’ve captured our crews at Rumford and again at Dove. Not sure how they found out, but they did.”

  “We’re on our way down. Be there in five. We recently found a handful of Earther bugs on our ship. I would bet the dome is crawling with them, but don’t worry, we have a way to search them out.”

  The colonel growled. “We’ve been finding them as well. Caught two of our Domers planting them.”

  Harris frowned. “Takes all kinds. Do these people not know what’s at stake here?”

  “Credits talk. They always have. Sadly, I would bet a quarter of our citizens have a price.”

  “When we arrive, we’ll work on getting the spy situation under control. Looks like the Earthers will finally be getting their titanium though.”

  Harris walked into the colonel’s office with Farker at his heel.

  The colonel looked around. “Tawn not with you?”

  Harris shook his head. “She’s showing our newest team member the dome with Trish and Gandy.”

  The colonel pulled a map up on his wall display. “I’m concerned. Our last report from the Rumford Mines detailed armed soldiers moving about. Since we took over Dove, they’ve been brazenly displaying as many weapons as they want. They’ve been conducting mock attacks on their facilities too.”

  Harris waved his hand. “They won’t attack here. Not after last time. They know we have a few thousand Bios here and plenty of arms. I’m sure they know about those railguns out there too. I’m more worried about the destroyers up there. Our cruisers just pulled out.”

  The colonel stood. “When did that happen?”

  Harris scratched his chin. “Ten minutes ago. Why?”