"The Pleiades, the Megonians, and the Urantians have all worked closely with the humans. They claim that these mutants can be made to understand if they are dealt with properly. We have our own Prefect and those of Amos and Earth, all human, all fighting to protect what is theirs, all examples to support the claim.”
Asperdath of Zienon,
"Appeal in favor of the Peace Conferences”, 2382 TS
CHAPTER XI
John stayed the whole night at Neila's working cut a plan that
would put her into contact with BCOS. Before setting out for the
"Well, if they are involved I doubt they're going to just hand over the documents and tell rite to have a nice day. If they're not, then I've got nothing to worry about." He said pulling the weapon out of its holster to check the charge. Satisfied it was fully energized he replaced it, but left the safety strap open for a quick retrieval. He looked at her face, which was staring with her mouth gaping slightly opened. "Are you sure you’re up to this?" He asked her.
She diverted her gaze to his boots, then raised her face to look into his eyes. "I just hadn't seriously thought of the danger aspect." Her expression was one he'd never seen her wear before. She'd always been toe confident to worry. But now there were two little furrows etched between her brows and her eyes wore a sadness to which he was unaccustomed.
He moved close enough to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her into a close hug. "Don't worry about me, Babe. I won't start anything I can't finish."
She wasn't so sure that he would be the one starting anything. "Can't we tell Higgins or even mom? What about Max, he could do your backup.' she pleaded.
John shook his. "No. We can't tell anybody. We don't know who all is involved in this." He reminded her, turning to grab his jacket oft the bed.
"But Max lost his legs saving Higgins' life. Surely he can be trusted." She insisted. She straightened his collar and ran her hands along the shoulders to dust off any lint.
“For all I know, Max could be the leak. We don't know who to trust - except each other." He held her shoulders in his hand and kissed her on the mouth. "Mow you be careful, too. Remember, everything you say and do is being monitored, so the more you can get him to open up and confide in you, the easier it'll be to plead your case to the Council." Neila only nodded that she understood.
John
left her to get ready to meet with Bedall and made his way down to the lower
levels and the
He looked at the display cases for a moment first, noting the various bindings and covers. His confidence soared slightly when he recognized copies of a cookbook and medical journal that he'd seen on the stolen shuttle. "I don't suppose you get much call for these." He said to the shopkeeper who'd just come out from a back room.
The oriental man looked at the books John was referring to, then raised his eyes to the weapon on his hip. Then he looked higher at the patch on the jacket. His face turned a slightly paler shade, and then returned to its natural color. "Not so many." He said with a broad toothy smile. “Some antique collectors want copies for their library. That's all these are for, just to fill up my display case."
"Uh, huh." John grunted. "Would you happen to have a copy of 'The Regeneration of Life on the Earth's Surface.' by Neila Winters stashed away in your back room?"
The color in the poor little man’s cheeks again drained to a very noticeable shade of off white. “The Regeneration of Life, you say?" He managed to squeak out between the teeth of his frozen smile.
"'The Regeneration of Life on the Earth's Surface' is the correct title. Do you have it?"
The man repeated the title, pulled at his chin with his fingers, looked skyward and repeated the title again. “Who did you say was the author?" He asked.
John found himself enjoying the little man S hedging game, but he wondered whether he was stalling for time in order to think of a way out or to give his buddies time to come to his rescue. "Neila Winters. She's a biochemist at the Galactic Institute. She claims you printed the piece in this print shop. I m sure that it you just check your records you'll find it."
"Not necessarily. We print many papers for the students at the Institute, but we cannot keep records for every piece of paper we print. Our space is much too limited, you see,” he said waving his arm to encompass the display area.
"You do use the master printer, don't you?" The man affirmatively nodded his head. "Then it must be stored in the computer. Now pull it up and let me see it.”
“I can't pull up all the records. There are some confidential titles in there. Personal messages, love sonnets, anonymous confessions . . ." the man protested.
"Look, I am conducting an official investigation, here. I can have the Council issue a warrant. But we both know that if I do that I'll have to suggest that a possible violation is being committed here. As soon as I do, this place goes on surveillance whether I find anything or not.” The little man closed his eyes and dropped his head until his chin rested on the base of his neck. "I can see you're not interested in giving the Council a reason to watch your every move, so why don't we just go into that little back room of yours and see what you've got in your memory files."
The man nodded his head again, and reluctantly led the way to the master printer. He pointed to the terminal and indicated for John to sit down, which he did. "Computer." He summoned the terminal to engage itself.
“WORKING” The terminal replied in a soft feminine voice with a slightly oriental accent.
"This is Security Commander John Decker, clearance level 20.
"PLEASE ENTER CLEARANCE CODE, NOW." Using a remote wand he passed it over the palm of his hand where a microscopic barcode had been implanted.
"WELCOME, COMMANDER DECKER. HOW r4AY I SERVE YOU?"
"Search archives. Retrieve the complete works of Neila Winters.
“WORKINC . . . PLEASE WAIT. SEARCH MODE COMPLETE. THERE ARE SEVENTY-FIVE TITLES IN THE ARCHIVES BY THIS AUTHOR."
“Stop. Isolate title: 'The Regeneration of Life on the Earth’s Surface. An hypothesis concerning survival on the planet surface."
“WORKINC.. - - ISOLATION NODE COMPLETE. TITLE LOCATED.."
“Print."
“WORKING -. - PRINT MODE COMPLETE."
“Bingo.” He said with a triumphant smile to the shopkeeper. “Now, that wasn't so painful, was it? And I didn't even get a peak at your love sonnets."
“No, sir." The shopkeeper said as he handed him the book.
John quickly opened the cover to the title page and notice a barcode reference number at the bottom of it. "What's this about?" He asked the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper looked over his shoulder. "It's a barcode.” He said innocently.
"I know it's a barcode, why is it on the cover page of this book?"
"It's probably a computer retrieval code of some sort.”
"Computer. Identify barcode sequence at bottom left cover page -
“DOCUMENT CODED FOR SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL 20. LAST PUBLICATION DATE O5 23 2330. PUBLICATION NUMBER 637."
"Sort by publication dates, quantity and patron.'
"WORKING . . . SORT NODE COMPLETE. THERE ARE SIX HUNDRED
THIRTY-SEVEN COPIES CURRENTLY IN PRINT."
John's mouth dropped open so hard it made a snapping sound and appeared to make his eyes bulge from his head. "Print list." He finally managed to utter to the computer.
While John was occupied with the computer, the little oriental shopkeeper decided it was time to slip out the front before he could be asked any more questions. He didn't know that the commander had been watching his reflection in a shiny medal container of writing utensils that was sitting next to the terminal as he edged himself ever so slightly closer to the door. When he was finally through it, the man bolted out the from and ran helter-skelter past the theater and through the commerce area. "I thought he was never going to leave." John said under his breath.
On a soft sheet of vegifiber, the 637 reprints were listed by the copy dates but the only names listed were the original patrons that Neila had requested copies for. The rest were digital codes with numbers and a single letter. "Define reference code in patron column."
"REFERENCE CODING IS SURNAME OF REQUESTING PATRON."
“You’re sounding a lot like the china man. What do the numeric entries mean?"
“NUMERIC ENTRY IS REFERENCE CODING FOR SURNAME OF REQUESTING PATRON.”
“Right. Locate reference coding master list."
“WOPKING . . . SEARCH MODE COMPLETE. THERE IS NO REFERENCE CODING MASTER LIST STORED IN ARCHIVE.”
“No master list. The numbers must have been entered from a list that's stored someplace else. I wonder if I could find it with the P.C." He thought to himself. "Computer, search again. Compare all patron lists, all authors, and all titles in memory. Sort by patron surname. Isolate all identical numeric surnames beginning with the numerical reference, zero.
"WORKING… PLEASE WAIT. SEARCH MODE COMPLETE. SORTING PATRON SURNAME… SORT MODE COMPLETE. ISOLATING IDENTICAL NUMERIC SURNAMES… ISOLATION MODE COMPLETE. THERE ARE SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO IDENTICAL SURNAMES WITH NUMERICAL REFERENCE."
"Print list." The computer produced several pages of code numbers. Each had the exact same list of books. The three he recognized were the books in the display case and Neila 5 thesis. There were other printed materials listed, also. But the titles were numerical codes similar to the surname codes. Then he realized that one of the title codes was exactly the same as one of the surname codes. “Whoa.” He exclaimed jumping out of his chair. He spun around to see if anyone was else was in the room with him. He didn't expect to find the shopkeeper there, but his friends may have been. Satisfied he was still alone, he grabbed the printed documents and slipped them under his uniform. Then he saluted to the terminal with a very cheerful, "Thank you very much, Master Computer. I'll remember you in my dreams."
"YOU ARE WELCOME, COMMANDER DECKER." It replied.
Neila stopped short of the portal leadin9 to Bedall's temporary quarters at the Institute to collect herself before seeing him. John had told her to act natural, as if she didn't know anything about being under surveillance. Was he crazy? She thought to herself. How does a body act normal when her whole life had become so abnormal? Then, remembering she was being watched, she quickly ran her hands over the sides of her hair and down the French braid at the back till her fingers felt the knot of braid at the base of her neck. Then she adjusted her belt and uniform, attempting to appear as though she had stopped to check her appearance rather than to worry about what lay ahead. Thinking she'd sufficiently covered her actions with vanity, she stepped up to the portal for it to announce her arrival.
When the door slid open Bedall greeted her cheerfully. "Good morning, Neila Please come in,"
“Good morning, Bedall. Did you sleep well?”
“Quite well. Thank you. And what of you? Did you and your friend reach an understanding?"
"Oh … yes." She stammered. It was just a simple misunderstanding. Nothing major. Everything's fine now. Are you ready to leave? I thought you might be interested in seeing the rest of Security Central.”
“Yes, I would."
“I’m hoping you will show me how your ship works while we’re there. We have nothing like it here."
"You must be very interested space travel. Did you wish to compare Commander Decker's craft to mine?"
"Oh, maybe," She giggled nervously.
When John lowered his hopper onto the security-docking bay with a jolt, he heard the controller his headset. "Have a rough night, there, Johnny Boy? Or did Neily just give you the old heave ho?” The voice was saying.
"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, Turbo Breath. You can tell the rest of the fleet not to bother heating up their thrusters yet."
"Well, we're all rooting for you on this side, Commander." The voice encouraged.
"Gee, thanks, Maelstrom." He said dubiously before signing off.
John left his hopper and made a bee line for his office.
"Priority links, only, Stringer." Were the only orders gave as he rushed past the corporal's desk into his office. He didn't even bother to wait for a response, but sealed the portal between the two offices went straight for the personal computer in the corner of his office.
"Computer." He summoned.
"WORKING."
'Load Hacker Link program."
"HACKER LINK LOADED."
"Priority one interface, Security code, Levels 30. Break Master Printer, 273560. Data Banks, 537649. Engage.
"BREAKING MASTER PRINTER SECURITY LEVEL 30 LOCKOUT...PLEASE WAIT...INTERFACE COMPLETE...ACCESSING DATA BANKS...PLEASE WAIT... ACCESS DENIED...PLEASE WAIT...WELCOME TO MASTER PRINTER DATA BANK SECURITY LEVEL 30. HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?"
The passenger shuttle slowly descended to dock of the Security hanger bay. A wash of air escaped three lifters as they absorbed massive weight of it. When the hatch slid open, several khaki, gold and peach color uniformed personnel disembarked1 each chattering noisily on their way to various duty stations. Neila and Bedall patiently waited for the shuttle to empty out before disembarking themselves.
Bedall had seemed so flattered by her earlier request, that it did not surprise her when he offered to show her his vessel before the Security tour. He lead her into the pedestal, which immediately rotated itself shut around them.
To her alarm, the floor began to rise under them, collapsing the telescoping walls around them and pushing them up into the hollow of the sphere. It seemed very roomy, and much larger than the exterior structure suggested. "Don't be afraid." He soothed, "The sphere generates an anti-gravity shield as soon as my weight touches the flooring which prevents it from striking another surface from any direction."
"Anti-gravity?"
"Yes. It repels objects that would gravitate toward the sphere. Like a meteor or a phase blast. A planetoid sphere draws foreign objects into Itself as it spins on it's axis, but as the hull of the sphere spins, it repels the objects, much like a wet spinning ball hurls water beads off of it's surface."
"So it's a force field, of sorts.'1
1'In a way. It also propels the sphere. The guidance system is internally controlled by these little navigational control spheres.' He showed her two small spinning balls suspended on either side of an armed pilot seat. "I can navigate either manually or remotely by telling the navigator the direction or the coordinates. Would you like to go for a spin?" Bedall looked at Neila oddly as she broke into laughter the pun. He did not seem to understand what had made her laugh, though he was pleased at the spontaneity of her response.
"I'm sorry. It's an earthling thing, I guess," she attempted to explain. "Of course you would go for a spin in a spinning ball1 What else could you do?" She scolded herself. Then realizing she had answered his invitation yet, quickly added. "Yes, I'd love to . . " She couldn't make herself finish the sentence and maintain a straight face, so she simply made a spinning gesture with her finger.
"Good." He said to her. He gestured for her to turn around and said, "External view." Immediately, a tiny spot appeared in front of them, which then exploded into a large circular image
of the docking bay.
Keeping his hands above the little spheres7 he passed them over slowly in various direction, which seem to change the direction of their axis, The craft edged it's way slowly toward
the launch tube "Captain Bedall Ruhual of the Alliance Star Vessel Seeker, requesting launch coordinates." He announced to the controller.
"State your destination, ASV seeker." A voice said.
"Just a short spin around your Terra System."
"Roger, Seeker, but please avoid the orbit shipping lanes. Most of the shuttle pilots don't know about you, yet. I don't want the com tied up with UFO sightings."
"Message understood."
"Go to launch coordinates, 0217."
"Proceeding to launch coordinates, 0217."
"Roger, Seeker. You have a go for launch when ready."
"ASV Seeker, ready to launch."
The sphere hurled itself through the tube like a cannon ball shot through the muzzle.