by Paul Phipps
Command Chief Cavendish/ Comm Mode: “That’s what I thought I remembered. I’m talking to her right now and she’s asking to interview Harum as part of her fact finding trip.”
Lt. Commander Fuller/ Comm Mode: “Interesting! Let me think… When is she leaving for Indonesia?”
Command Chief Cavendish/ Comm Mode: “Tomorrow at five o’clock from Heathrow.”
Lt. Commander Fuller/Comm Mode: “Excellent, Offer her and her entourage a lift there and she can interview Harum on the ship while we take them there. I’ll be there with a couple of specialists too. Maybe we can get some more information from her.”
Command Chief Cavendish/ Comm Mode: “Ok, I’ll make the offer.”
Only a minute or so had gone by while Sarah was talking to Albert Fuller, “Dame Meredith, I think it’s doable for you to talk to Harum.” She held up her finger though, “But not before you must leave tomorrow afternoon. So I have an alternative offer for you.” And then she waited for the Dame.
“Alternative offer? And it is…What?”
“I’ll pick you and the rest of your entourage up tomorrow at Heathrow and you can interview Harum while the TSN transports you to Indonesia.”
“That is an intriguing offer Sarah.” She paused and thought for a minute or so turning the different options over in her mind. “I like it and I’ll recommend it to the others. Is there a way I can contact you?”
Sarah nodded her head and then reached into a breast pocket and pulled out one of her TSN ‘Smart’ business cards. “Here you go, just call the telephone number and enter my contact number and you’ll be connected to me. Otherwise you can use the e-mail or the Cobweb address to get in contact with me.”
Friday, March 12, 2027
Helen of Troy
The TSN Diplomatic Courier Helen of Troy, was in her element once again. Helen the Command A.I. was enjoying fully the knowledge that she was fulfilling her duty. The feel of her crew on the Bridge and elsewhere inside the body of her vessel brought forth additional feelings of comfort and yes, joy too.
The pickup of her nominal Captain, Commander Webster as well as several Telefactors for Admiral Webster, Lt. Commander Fuller and his agents as well as Telefactors for Ariadne and Seeker herself from the Huntress made her feel honored to be among the greats of the Terran Space Navy. Now they were moving on to Heathrow International Airport.
Petty Officer Second Class Alvarez was piloting the Helen of Troy for this trip; he was also in communication with the Heathrow Control Tower as they dropped from eighty five thousand feet over the city of London.
“Roger that tower, we will back out to fifty miles and enter your pattern from that position.” He listened carefully and then said, “Yes tower that is correct we are requesting the VIP area. We are scheduled to embark three passengers from that location.” Again he listened to the Tower, “Affirmative Tower, Helen of Troy is entering your pattern in three minutes. We are illuminating now.”
The Helen of Troy’s skin was the brilliant white the TSN favored when they wanted to be noticed. With a spoken command the hull began to glow so brightly, so as to rival a World War II searchlight. Fifteen minutes later found her on the downward glide path tucked in behind an Airbus 380, The Helen of Troy was only a little bit larger than the plane in front of it.
Then they were down and skimming above the runway, soon they were at the VIP terminal and the Helen of Troy was lowering her landing legs and personnel ramp. Command Chief Cavendish strode down the ramp by herself to greet the three people awaiting her arrival.
Sarah was using the latest model Telefactor the same as the rest of the TSN personnel on board. This model used no Quantum Processors at all. That meant that some of the lesser used senses like touch were degraded in areas such as the arms and legs but definitely not the hands and face. The Telefactor scanned as being human even with the addition of the organometallic skeletal system and the enhanced muscular system had more ‘twitch’ muscles than was normally found in a human. It was hoped that the Quarn would not be able to take this model over like they had the last time Sarah had the misfortune to be their target.
Even the Helen of Troy was modified with a complete backup system of non-Quantum Processors and a microsecond by microsecond backup of Helen’s A.I. Personality. For further protection Helen’s personality was different than the standard A.I. having been generated from a true Engram of a human volunteer instead of being a clone of an existing A.I. such as Susannah. This trip promised to be a potential real-world test of these new Quarn counter-measures.
“Dame Meredith!” Sarah exclaimed with a welcoming smile, “Welcome, welcome, are you looking forward to seeing the Earth from space?”
“Yes, yes of course I am Sarah.” The Dame said with quelling look, “Command Chief Cavendish, I would like to introduce you to Stanford Harris and Angel Michaels, they are my colleagues with the United Nations Children’s Welfare Bureau.
Sarah in turn gave a twitch of a smile at Mr. Michaels upon hearing his name. He in turn raised an eyebrow and said, “Go ahead, everyone else does.”
With a chuckle Sarah said, “Did you pack your wings with your carry-on luggage or in the checked baggage?”
“Neither, thank you very much. I keep them handy at all times. You mortals just can’t see their glory.” He finished up with a quick laugh. “There now, don’t you feel better getting that out of the way?”
Two of the Helen of Troy’s crew came down the ramp and gathered up the luggage of the three passengers and brought them aboard. Sarah had taken that opportunity to direct her three guests up the ramp and once the Trans-Portal system was explained brought the three of them to a spacious observation room. The walls showed a three-sixty view of the surrounding airport.
As Sarah was offering refreshments the Helen of Troy moved into the take-off queue and was shortly airborne and then they were into Earth Orbit. The three passenger/guests were mostly quiet with a few sighs and minor exclamations of pleasure. Finally though business intruded “Sarah, if Harum is available I would like to talk to her now.” Dame Meredith Fowler said in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
“Certainly Dame Meredith, I’ll go get her and the others for you. I’ll be just a few minutes if you will excuse me.”
As Sarah came through the Trans-portal into the other observation lounge she saw that the other members of the team waiting for her.
“Anything new that I need to know about?” She asked Admiral Webster.
“No, go with the same plan it’ll be just you, Harum, Tanya and Peter. Neither of our other two guests appears to be Quarn or influenced by them. We will be keeping a close watch on them in any case.” He told her.
Sarah brought the three teenagers to the Observation Lounge where Dame Meredith Fowler and her two associates were waiting. After introducing the three teenagers to them Sarah moved to a comfortable chair where she could watch them all.
The three members of the Children’s Welfare Bureau quickly established that they were highly skilled interrogators of children. They came across as believably sympathetic and genuinely interested in what each of the teenagers had to say. Harum was obviously on center stage as they asked ever more probing questions about her life in the Indonesia Orphanage system.
After ascertaining that there was indeed a pattern in the reduction of children at each orphanage that Harum had lived in they asked her if she had any idea about what was happening to them.
“I don’t know what has happened to any of them. I hope that they have found good homes as I hope to do myself.” Harum told them.
“And that brings us back to your future Harum; do you know what you want to do with your life?” Angel asked her.
“Yes sir, I do know what I want to do… at least for the next few years. I have applied for admittance to the Navy’s apprenticeship program, I have two sponsors that wish to take me on and will provide me a good place to live, good food and an education and training in any field of endeavor I find myself interest
ed in.” She told them forthrightly.
“Really? Mr. Harris said with a curious look. “Is there a possibility that we might meet with your proposed sponsors?”
At that point Sarah spoke up, “You have already met one of them… Myself. And Commander Ansel Webster is the other.”
“I see.” Dame Webster said nodding her head.
There was quiet in the lounge as the three member of the Children’s Welfare Bureau absorbed all that they had been presented. Finally Dame Meredith said, “Harum, I congratulate you on having Sarah as a sponsor, I think you will do wonderfully with her.” Then with a smile she turned to Sarah, “Congratulations to you too, Sarah. By the way how much longer until we arrive at Jakarta?”
“That’s up to you Dame Meredith, we can be there in thirty minutes or so or you can rest here for some time before you need to arrive. The Helen of Troy is at your disposal for the time being.” Sarah told her.
With a look toward her two companions she nodded her head as if in agreement, she then said, “I think that will be all for now. If you don’t mind we would like to have some privacy so as to discuss what we have learned.”
“Certainly Dame Meredith, this lounge is equipped with a Jammer. If you’ll come over here I’ll show you the control panel.” Sarah demonstrated the Jammer and its capabilities. She also showed them the ‘call button’ that they would need to use to get in contact with her. Once that was done Sarah and the three teens left via the Trans-Portal.
Back in “spy central” as Tanya called it, Lt. Commander Fuller was deep in thought. The questions that had been asked of Harum seemed to be directed toward achieving a certain conclusion rather than toward the true reason that the Indonesian excess children were disappearing. He had also started to receive new information about missing children in large numbers on all of the continents. In the last month alone an astonishing four thousand had gone missing worldwide. He knew there was more than that missing; however his methodology had only counted the ones who were missing and with no bodily remains being found.
One of his latest additions to his Intelligence section was a retired New York Police Detective. The man had brought a new depth of knowledge into the sordid side of human beings. On the other hand the psychological section was reveling in new theories and methodologies on how to prove them. They had recently presented to him one that was extremely disturbing in its implications. Until he had more data to prove or disprove it meant that it was kept on a high shelf in his intelligence closet. Out of sight but not out of mind.
His immediate conclusion was that they were looking into a world-wide pedophile ring with snuff tendencies. Nasty business if true… But the Quarn were even nastier he thought pensively. Now to wait until those three were done with their meeting. A Jammer field stopped even his instrumentation from eavesdropping on anyone inside of one. ‘Hmmm, that’s an idea… I’ll have to talk to Hans in fabrication about that.’ He thought
“You know Albert, the Dame is so… normal.” Admiral Webster said in to the quiet of the room.
“I agree Admiral and if it wasn’t for that e-mail we intercepted that specifically identified her as having been placed under the influence of Zombie Drug I would not give her a second thought.” He paused and then said slowly, “I wonder how many other important people around the world are also under the Zombie drug’s influence?”
“You do have a way of coming up with disturbing ideas, Albert.” Admiral Webster said softly, “Ok, that’s something that Captain Thomas and the Elizabeth Rich need to investigate. I am going to task them into creating a sensor system to spot those people too.”
With a frown Admiral Webster turned to look at Ansel. “Ansel, your parents were injected with a version of the Zombie drug. How long were they under its influence?”
“Uncle Carl, I hate to report it, but they still are. Maude and some of the physicians at the M1 Moon Base are studying them. Their prognosis is that it may be years or even permanent as the drug doesn’t seem to lose potency and may actually be causing some cells in the body to mutate and start producing it themselves.
Like everything else with the Quarn their effects are subtle and long lasting.”
“DAMN! Are we sure that TSN itself is free of people operating under the influence of the Zombie Drug?” Admiral Webster asked out loud in exasperation?”
Ansel gave Lt. Commander Fuller a questioning glance and with a shrug of shoulders between the two Ansel replied, “No Sir, since you brought it up and we don’t test for the Zombie Drug, we aren’t sure at all that there are any members of the Terran Space Navy who are under the Drug’s influence.”
With a shake of his head, Admiral Webster said wryly, “If it isn’t one damn thing, it’s another damn thing. When Seeker and I started making our plans decades ago for the creation of the TSN we never envisioned anything like the Quarn or Shaitan’s Breath.
Although we did have the President-for-life to worry about, in the grand scheme of things he was just a local problem to the Earth and the U.S. in particular.” He shook himself to relieve a little stress, “It’s like the old saying: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!” He finished with a grin. “Alright then! We’ve got work to do, I’ll go talk to Captain Thomas and her people. Albert, you’ve got your intelligence gathering under control here.
Ansel, talk to the Marines and make sure that they are up to speed on their portion of the plan and have contingency plans in the queue if we need to activate them. Ensure that the Companion is ready for the upcoming assault. Also get with Captain Johansson; he’s got the best feel for how Operation Seaweed is coming along.
Sarah, I’m leaving this Indonesia thing in your hands. I recommend that you keep our ships at least five hundred miles away for the time being. And only new model Telefactors and A.I.’s are allowed within that zone. Be available in case the Children’s Welfare Bureau wants to talk to you. Good luck and stay as safe as you can.
Everyone set to their various tasks, it was still quiet in the room as most of the communications were via their built in Comm Implants. Sarah and Peter, Tanya and now Harum simply discontinued their usage of their Telefactors and “reappeared” back on Asimov City.
Sarah sat down with them and ensured that they had plenty of studies to keep them occupied for the next few days. Then she asked Harum what she thought of Dame Meredith and her companions.
“They seem like well-intentioned people Sarah, but I’ve seen many of those types since I became an orphan. They come and ask questions and then they go away thinking that their work is done and things don’t change much at all.
I do wonder though…” And she paused to reflect, “Did it seem like they were worried or not about the kids disappearing?”
“What do you think, Harum?”
“No, I don’t think they were all that worried, I think that they already knew what was happening to them.” Harum said.
“I think that they have an idea that they are pursuing Harum. Whether or not that idea is correct is another thing. We know what is happening here in Indonesia; but elsewhere on the Earth? It could be something entirely different or God Forbid, those children who go missing elsewhere are being funneled here to Indonesia for the Mother-Quarn to eat.” Sarah said soberly.
Helen of Troy/Comm Mode: “Command Chief Cavendish, your guests have turned off the Jammer in the Observation Lounge.”
Command Chief Cavendish/ Comm Mode: “Thank you Helen, I’ll be back momentarily.”
“I’ve been paged, I’ll be checking up on you three as time permits.” Sarah said and then used the Trans-Portal to her Telefactor Room. A quick insertion into the sensorium tank and she was back on the Helen of Troy.
And not a moment too soon as she was informed immediately upon activating the Telefactor that Dame Meredith had used the call button to page Sarah. She checked her appearance in a mirrored surface and then she was entering the Observation Lounge where her ‘Guests’ awaited her.
“Sarah, w
e have decided that we would like to spend the night on board and then arrive in the morning at Jakarta.” Dame Meredith told her.
“Very good then, would you like me to show you to your cabins now or later? It’s three o’clock in the morning local time right now. I can issue you a sleeping aid that will assist in setting your body clock to local time here.”
“Yes please, the cabins would be best I think and I’ll have one of your pills too.” Dame Meredith told Sarah.
After showing the three to their individual cabins and informing them that their breakfast would be served in the Observation Lounge when they awoke, she left them to their own devices.
Upon arriving back in ‘Spy Central’ she was struck by the expression on Lt. Commander Fuller’s face as he stared blankly at the ceiling. She in turn sat down next to Ansel who seemed to be holding his own internal conversation.
Albert Fuller came out of his apparent trance and said, “I love the capabilities these internal Comms and Slowtime give us.” Sarah nodded in appreciation and he continued, “I and my staff of agents have just finished listening to the recording of our three passengers. You’ll be getting a memo later on about it. What I can tell you right off is that this Zombie drug is vastly more useful than I ever thought it was. After you left the lounge one of the men, Mr. Michaels I believe, brought out a digital recorder and played back a message.
