“Who we got, Ragu?” a man asked from behind the glass. He was wearing the uniform of the ship’s security, but with three gold stripes attached to his color.
“This is one of the protesters who tried to break into the communications room,” said Ragu. “I think he just needs to calm down. Perhaps you had better call the doctor, Chief.”
The ship’s chief of security was a broad-shouldered man approaching middle age whose uniform shirt was stretched tight over a broadly-muscled chest. He reached across the desk and pressed a button and a buzzing sound echoed in the lobby. Ragu pressed his hand to another panel and an inner door slid open, admitting them to the back room of the brig. Rao was seated by a desk in an uncomfortable metal chair as his restraints were released. He rubbed his wrists as Ragu walked to the desk and seated himself.
“Now,” started Ragu. “I need to take your name and other information. If you are calm and answer me truthfully, I can probably have you out by the morning. If not, then maybe much later. Do you understand?”
Rao nodded and the security man began asking questions and typing the data into the terminal at the desk. Banu looked around the brig office as he answered. Two desks over, the second in command of security, a man named Henry Moore, was also taking down information from a woman seated by his desk. She was a fit blonde woman who was rubbing her hands together. Rao noticed that her knuckles appeared to be swollen, as if she had been beating them against something hard.
Rao thought he recognized the woman from somewhere, but could not quite place her face. She was angry, but there was a deep sadness behind her eyes that softened the anger. As Henry Moore turned to ask her another question, Rao saw why the woman’s knuckles were swollen. Henry had a large bruise growing on his face, just beneath his eye. Rao wondered what the woman had been doing that had made her want to fight the security man.
There was another buzzing at the door to the brig and the door slid open again. Doctor Evan Reeves, the ship’s head doctor, walked into the room. He was tall and gaunt, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere other than here at this moment. Rao thought his eyes appeared bloodshot in the soft lighting of the room. The doctor walked over to Rao.
“Chief Rogers said you called for me,” the doctor asked, his refined accent seeming strange in the stark brig. “Is this man injured?”
“Yes, thank you, Doctor,” replied Ragu, looking up at the man. “I am worried that Mister Rao is a bit excited and may need to be calmed down. He seems to have settled now. I believe Mister Moore might need a look at, though.”
The doctor looked at Rao for a moment before walking around the desk and stepping over to Henry Moore. Henry pointed to the blonde woman and the tall man knelt down and took her hands in his.
Rao suddenly remembered where he knew the woman from. A year ago, Banu had been in a crowd that had watched their loved ones blown into space during a mass suicide. Although he had not known anyone in the group, he’d seen the woman lose her fiancé. The doctor had been on hand, but left shortly thereafter. He thought the woman’s name might be Alice. Henry Moore had been there as well and had lost his family.
“I’m taking a break, guys,” said the big security chief, walking to his office. Keep an eye on things, okay?”
Both of the security guards waved the chief off and resumed their data entry. To Banu, everything seemed perfectly normal and domestic in the brig. He had a hard time justifying the casual atmosphere in the office with the situation the ship was in. The two men calmly continued typing as the doctor treated the woman.
Since the mass suicide a year ago, there had been many more incidences of people walking out airlocks or jumping from the balconies in the promenade. As Banu had heard it, most of the people had been patients of Doctor Reeves and had large doses of mood altering medication in their system. The doctor had been investigated by the security chief himself, but no offence was found to suggest the doctor was complicit in the suicides. He knew the man was now being forced to restrict his prescriptions, but the suicides continued.
There was a siren alarm as the lights in the security office began to flash. The chief of security came barreling out of his office and through them towards the door. Despite the urgency of the siren, the man looked oddly excited by the emergency. The other two guards stood to follow, but Rogers held his hand to stop them.
“You two stay here and keep an eye on these two. We’ve got another hacking,” he said. “This time they’ve accessed the hangar bay doors and are trying to get the airlocks opened up there by remote. I’ll take care of this one myself.”
The outer office door opened and the chief ran out into the corridor. Ragu and Moore sat back down, looking to each other and wondering at the situation. Banu glanced at Alice. He thought he had heard that she worked in the hangar deck. She looked nervous after hearing the news.
As Rao glanced around the office, he saw that the chief had left his office door open. Upon his desk was a computer terminal. Banu began to think about the security office and his own desire to access the communications network on the ship.
“Mister Ragunathan,” said Rao in a calm tone, “the chief seems to be a very busy man.”
“He is,” replied Ragu. “He monitors the entire ship from this office.”
“Indeed,” probed Rao. “I suppose he has been trying to find this hacker chap who has been causing all the trouble. A man like that must be very frustrating for you guys.”
“Yes,” replied the small man. “Whoever is doing this has access to the computer in a way we just cannot track. Whoever this is, he is very dangerous.”
“I suppose the chief must have access to all the computer systems from here to keep an eye on the hacker?”
“Yes,” replied Ragu, finishing his typing and looking at Rao. “Mister Rao, what did you say you did for a living before the invasion?”
“My company programmed computer systems,” said Rao. “I was a systems analyst for the Kakinada office.”
“And did these programs involve security overrides?” Ragu asked.
Realization dawned on Rao. He looked at the man in astonishment. They thought he might be a suspect. Thinking about his predicament, he saw the logic in their suspicion. They had caught him trying to break into the ship’s computer system.
“Mister Ragunathan,” stammered Rao. “I hope you don’t think I had anything to do with this hacking! I am not a programmer. I really don’t know about the types of security protocols needed to do these things.”
Banu looked around the brig at the other occupants. Moore, Reeves and Alice had all stopped what they were doing and were staring at him. Moore’s hand had reached down to where he had his stun baton. Rao’s hands went up in a gesture of surrender.
“No, Mister Rao,” replied Ragu. “Whoever is doing this is doing it in real time. They are sitting at a desk in front of a computer terminal, not sitting at my desk talking to me. I was only asking to see if you could help us catch him.”
Banu’s pulse began to drop from its rapid-fire pace. Ragu seemed genuine in his request, but Rao could not be sure that it was not just a trick. Moore had returned his hand to the desk, but he was keeping an eye on Rao anyway. Rao’s mind raced for a plan.
“Of course,” he said to Ragu. “I will help if I—”
Rao suddenly reached below the desk and grasped the stun baton hanging from Ragu’s belt. He yanked it off the hook and stood, brandishing the weapon in front of him. Moore was on his feet, baton in hand, in an instant. Alice stood and grabbed the baton from Moore’s hand, elbowing him in the ribs. Moore crumpled to the floor from the unexpected blow and Alice grabbed the doctor. Reeves looked terrified as Alice spun him around and held the baton to his side.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” said Rao in a panicked voice. “I just want to send a message home.”
“I don’t care what you want,” replied Alice. “If it means we get to beat these guys up, then I’m in.”
As Alice stepped around the desk
, she launched a kick at Moore, who was trying to rise from the floor. Rao stepped from his desk, holding Ragu at bay with the stun baton. The smaller man had his hands up in a defensive gesture. As he stepped back from Ragu, Rao started for the Chief’s office and the open computer terminal.
“Mister Rao,” said Ragu. “Please put the weapon down. We can discuss this like rational people.”
Rao continued to step to the office as Alice came around dragging the doctor. She took up a position by the door to the office and motioned to Rao.
“Whatever you are planning to do,” she said. “Do it now and then let’s get out of here.”
Rao’s mind spun. He didn’t know what was motivating the woman to help him, or where she intended to run after it was over, but she had a violent look to her and he decided not to argue. He stepped into the office, setting the stun baton down on the desk and pulling the chair over to the terminal.
The computer screen had gone dark, but a single tap to the keyboard brightened it. Rao looked at the data on the screen in confusion. He’d expected to see a readout of security cameras or alert systems. Instead, he found the airlock control codes indicating that they were cycling down to opening. He looked to Alice, still standing in the doorway.
“Alice,” he said, “you work in the hangar, right?”
“Alice glanced over her shoulder for a moment. The doctor was not struggling, but he was much taller than her.
“Up until this morning, yes,” she said. “Why?”
“According to what I am seeing,” Rao responded. “The airlock doors to the hangar are cycling open. I think I can stop it from here.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “Rogers said they were being hacked remotely.”
“I know what he said,” Rao said. “But I have access to the controls right now. What is the code to stop the cycle?”
Just then, Moore, who had quietly risen and came around the nearest desk, lunged for Alice, knocking the stun baton out of Alice’s hands and freeing the doctor. The tall man fell into the security office, blocking the doorway. Alice struggled with Moore as Ragu tried to push past the doctor.
“Alpha-alpha-three-two-nine,” Alice yelled from the doorway. “Then press override and seven.”
Rao tapped in the code just as Ragu entered the office and grasped the baton on the desk. The sequence indicated that he had stopped the cycle and that it was now sealed.
“Mister Rao,” said Ragu, stepping around the desk. “Please step away from the terminal.”
Rao stood, raising his hands. He looked at the smaller man in fear. He lowered his hand to point at the screen.
“Mister Ragunathan,” he said. “Tell me why the terminal here was accessing the airlock controls if the chief said they were locked out?”
Ragu looked to the terminal. He saw the indicator showing the hangar bay airlock now locked. There was no indication of any tampering with the system.
“Perhaps the hacker knew we were watching and logged out of the system,” said Ragu. “Please step away, Mister Rao.”
“Just let me look at the key record,” Rao replied. “It should show us what is going on.”
“Let him try it, Ragu,” said Moore, holding Alice at the door. “What could it hurt now?”
Ragu nodded to Rao and the man sat back down at the terminal. He opened the drawer by the desk, looking for a small pad to record the key sequence from that terminal. Instead of the slip of paper, what he saw froze his blood.
“Mister Ragunathan,” Rao asked. “I thought weapons were not allowed on cruise ships?”
Ragu looked down at the drawer to see a pistol resting on a thick cushion. It was black and appeared very heavy. Ragu reached out to the weapon and took it out of the desk. He held it up for Moore to see.
“Henry,” Ragu asked. “Why would the chief be holding this?”
Moore released Alice, who stepped aside to let him into the office. The doctor had paled but stood on the other side of the desk. Henry took the gun from Ragu’s hand and set it down on the desk. It made a loud metallic noise as he placed it against the wood.
“Mister Rao,” said Henry to Banu. “Please continue with the keystroke search.”
Rao began typing on the terminal, opening files and scanning the data. What he was seeing began to form an image in his mind. He continued to search the data back through the past year, his hands trembling as he typed. He finished the data search and turned to look at the two security men.
“Mister Moore,” he said. “If what I see here is correct, I think I know who the hacker is.”
Moore looked back at the analyst. Anger had begun to grow on his face as he began to realize what Rao was about to tell him. His mind began to fit the pieces together into a cohesive and logical picture that enraged him.
“It was Rogers,” he said. “All this time it was him.”
“Damn, Henry,” a voice from the office said. “I thought you would never figure it out.”
The group turned to see Chief Rogers standing amid the desks, baton raised. He had a curious expression on his face, as if he was actually happy to have been caught. The entire group stared at the big man, astonished at his crime.
“Why?” Moore asked. “Why would you kill all those people?”
“How did you get them all drugged,” Reeves asked, bracing himself against the desk. He looked shaky.
“Don’t you get it, Moore,” said the chief. “We’re already dead. This is a floating ghost ship and we just haven’t stopped breathing yet. I’m just making them all better. As for the drugs, it is actually pretty easy to change a prescription in the computer if you have the right access codes.”
A scream of rage thundered across the room as Alice launched herself at Rogers. He tried to bring up the stun baton, but she batted it aside as she threw punches at his head. Alice had rage on her side, but the security chief was a very powerful man. Despite the rain of blows, he was able to bring the baton up and into her side. She screeched and twisted as the electric crackle of the weapon arced over her body.
As he turned to deal with Alice, Henry stepped over and tried to restrain Rogers. The big man’s arm swung around and smashed Henry across the face. Henry responded by throwing an unexpected uppercut at the chief. The man reeled back, dizzy from the blow, but recovered quickly as Henry advanced. Rogers swung the baton at Henry, hitting the security guard’s already-injured ribs and causing the other man’s legs to buckle. Henry fell, screaming in pain.
Ragu had tried to exit the office, but stumbled as he went through the door. Rogers brought the baton down on the man’s head, knocking him unconscious. Ragu hit the deck with a soft thud. Rao looked in terror at the big man as he started to cross the threshold. As he raised the baton, Alice landed a kick to the man’s back. She was bleeding from her nose and in obvious pain, but she was still too angry to feel any of it.
Rogers spun, swinging the baton back to Alice. With his other hand, he grabbed the woman by the neck and squeezed hard. Alice choked a cry of pain as Rogers pulled her in close.
“It’s better this way, bitch,” he whispered to her. “This will all be over soon.”
There was an immense boom in the small office and Rogers dropped Alice from his grasp. The big man stumbled; his eyes blinked rapidly. He turned to see the doctor holding the still-smoking gun pointed at his head. A spreading bloom of blood was staining the chief’s shirt. He tried to step forward, raising his hand to the doctor in a menacing grasp.
A second explosion thundered in the office. Rogers’ head exploded in a spray of blood and gray matter. The man’s body collapsed onto the floor. Rao looked at the doctor still holding the gun up. The man’s hand was beginning to shake violently. He lowered the weapon and placed it carefully on the desk. Reeves walked past the body and into the outer office. Henry had regained his feet and was trying to help Alice up. She was coughing violently and trying to draw breath.
“Doctor,” said Moore. “We need to—”
“Doctor,” replied Henry. “Thank you.”
The doctor walked out of the office, through the lobby and into the corridor, leaving bloody footprints in his wake.
21
Now
“This whole plan is insane.”
“It may be, Captain Chang,” replied Ortiz. “But we are going through with it anyway.”
Captain Chang threw his hand up in exasperation and turned to find the door to the captain’s office. The bridge of the Terran Princess was a hive of activity as engineers, soldiers and crew ran from console to console, preparing for their next mission. Chang walked to the glass wall and placed his right hand against it, leaning for support.
“Captain,” said Lee, staring at the man’s back. “We are going through with it one way or another. We are just asking to borrow a few of your soldiers for backup.”
“Backup?” the man said. “You don’t need backup, Mister Pearce. What you need is an army.”
Chang turned back to face the assembly in the office. Ortiz was sitting behind his desk, looking confident in his decision. Lee stood next to the desk wearing a black military uniform rather than his pilot’s brown. Melaina and Tuxor were both seated on the couch in front. Tuxor had extended his legs out so far that Chang needed to walk around the big alien to keep from tripping.
“Thus the need for soldiers,” replied Lee. “I think about two dozen should do it.”
“Mister Pearce,” said Chang, advancing on the man. “You have been away from the military for a while and I assume you have forgotten a large portion of your former life, but Harpy Station is a maximum security prison. The Confederacy spent an enormous amount of time and energy to make sure that no one can break into that place.”
“Actually, Captain Chang,” said Melaina calmly. “It was designed to keep anybody from breaking out. I know, I was there for quite a while.”
Resolute Omnibus (The War for Terra) Page 16
