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SPAUSE
This section covers the work of three teams.
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section.
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Up and Away
Marita was untroubled during her journey to the University. At
the gates she was welcomed by Odine Ladingor. She said. "Miss
Andersson, we have some news for you. Please would you suggest
that we go to the quadrangle to expand on your lecture about soil
bacteria. Anita knows that the processor is still bugged so we
need an excuse to get away from it."
"That is an excellent idea Odine. It is a nice day for an
outdoor lecture."
When Marita arrived at her classroom with Odine, it seemed that
all the students were deliberately talking louder than usual.
She heard snatches of the positions of the teams in the Moon to
Lagrange Five sailing race. Others were discussing a vidplay about
the wars of the last century that had been shown the night before.
It was deliberate smokescreen chatter. The students went quiet
as she approached her lectern.
Marita said. "I am not happy about the work that you have done so far on bacteria in soil samples. You must remember that Earth is a planet too. Today I want you to do an exercise to identify symbiotic relationships between bacteria, fungi and other micro organisms. Anita, please would you get the robot sampler, the soil analyser and the chromatograph display unit and check that they are functioning correctly.?"
Anita quickly collected a team of helpers to dismantle the equipment to check for bugs. An audio bug was found in the robot sampler but none were found in the other two items.
When all was ready, Marita said. "I want you all to collect one cubic centimetre of soil from the quadrangle. I would like a full report on each sample listing the number of types of mineral, bacteria, fungi, yeasts, slime moulds, nematodes, seeds, pollen grains and insects. I would then like you to compare all the samples and compile a map of the distribution of each mineral and organism in the quadrangle."
The robot sampler would do most of the work but it had to be programmed to ensure that there was no cross-contamination between the samples. Analysis of the microscopic life in the quadrangle was the perfect excuse to spend most of the lecture period outside, away from electronic surveillance.
Pietro was the first to approach Marita when they were outside.
"Miss Andersson, we have traced Saeed. We know where he lives
and we have already collected images of two of his visitors. Anita
has set up a camera to monitor the people who visit Saeed's house
and to find out what Saeed looks like."
Marita said. "Thank you Pietro. That is excellent work."
Susannah and Fan Cho stood waiting until Pietro had finished.
Susannah said.
"Marita, Mrs. Grigson received a message not long ago that
upset her. She was in her room a long time before her lecture
started and she was using a communicator inside her briefcase.
It was around 08:50 when she got the message. After she received
the message she was very annoyed. We heard her say. 'Can't you
bastards do anything properly? ...What a lame excuse. ...Are you
sure that he did not call them to him? ...I know he is famous
enough to be recognised. ...Can you explain three coincidences
in a row? ...I hope that you have a recording to prove what you
say. You know what happened to Dexter when he fouled up.'
We couldn't hear much of what was said by the person she was talking
to but we think he was complaining about kids."
Marita replied. "That is very interesting Susannah. It points
to Mrs. Grigson being a fairly senior operator although I have
no idea what it was that her caller couldn't do. If anything had
happened to my partner, George, or Undepoldus, I would have heard
something by now."
Fan Cho said. "We think the man called Dexter was killed
for not doing his job properly but we don't know what his job
was."
Marita said. "Fan Cho, on Saturday, at the Spacer's Club,
I heard about a man who was shot on Friday night. He was following
George but George was able to evade him. What you have said about
Mrs. Grigson's comments means that snoopers who fail could get
shot. If they are prepared to shoot their helpers, they would
be just as likely to try to shoot anybody who gets in their way.
Undepoldus, George, you and myself are all in danger. I know that
I am protected and so is George. It would be terrible if anything
happened to any of your classmates."
Anita was waiting to make a contribution as Marita was speaking.
She said. "I have heard from Mr. Singh about the information
that Susannah and Fan Cho were telling you about. There was a
planned attempt to kidnap your partner George this morning but
some children going into Regent's Park saw him and recognised
him as the Undepoldus man. He was surrounded by the children as
the kidnappers were about to strike. He said that if you had any
problems, you should use code six. I don't know what code six
means but I think that you might have to use it soon. Mrs. Grigson
has been in our lecture room while we have been out here. She
put something under your lectern."
Marita said. "Please tell Mr. Singh what you have just told
me and that he should call the Berry taxi company. Twenty-five
are at six in quad."
Anita produced her special communicator and dialled a long series
of numbers. She said. "Silent Aitch. Confirm six." Then
she dialled another set of numbers and waited for a moment. Then
she said. "Silent Aitch. One arrived could pop. Call Berry
taxis. M said six is for twenty-five in quad."
Anita put away her communicator and said to Marita. "Mr.
Singh has been informed. He told me to use certain words in an
emergency. This communicator and his use a fairly secure encryption
technique but I try to keep messages short in case they are intercepted.
Mr. Singh said that he had never seen a communicator like mine
before when I told him how it worked. He has built one for himself
so that we could keep in touch. The techniques are old but they
still work well. It could be cracked by a good processor in a
few days but it is good enough for the moment."
Marita thought that if Gurprit wanted a communicator like Anita's
it must be better than anything he had been using.
Marita saw two floaters hovering above the quadrangle so she said.
"Lecture cancelled. Pack up. Clear a space for the floaters."
As the two floaters landed, two more appeared.
Marita then said. "Get aboard the floaters. There will be
room for everybody."
The floaters were ordinary taxis that could carry up to six passengers
but they each carried a passenger already. All the passengers
were bald.
As the second two floaters landed, two more appeared. One was
another taxi and the other was a police vehicle. Marita and the
remaining students got in the fifth taxi. Sil was the sixth passenger.
Sil said. "I am glad that you and your students are safe.
Gurprit said that it was because they are such a brilliant intelligence
team, they had seen trouble coming and warned you. You trusted
them. We trust them too."
Marita said. "I know where I am going, but what can be done
for my students?"
Sil said. "Admiral Chang has authorised acting cadet status
for all of them for the moment. The Council usually agrees with
his recommendations."
Marita said. "I bet that has given the Commander some problems."
Sil said. "Not at all. He loves it when he has got something
to do. When are you going to introduce me to your students?"
Marita said "I'm sorry Sil. Elli Odongo, Boris Bukovsky,
Gail Ritsos and Armand Piaget, meet Sil Agonistes."
Each gave a nod as his or her name was mentioned.
Marita said. "Sil, you have twenty more to meet when we get
back to the Club. Elli is a first class pilot already. Boris loves
power units. Gail is an astronomer, and last but not least, Armand
is a qualified physician." Turning to the students she said.
"Sil is a master pilot who knows more about power units than
most."
The floater was now descending into the courtyard. The other floaters
had already landed and the students were making their way towards
the Club's courtyard entrance.
The Commander greeted the students in turn and told them to stay
with the Spacers who had accompanied them in the taxis.
Sil and Marita were the last to go into the Club.
The Commander said to Marita. "Your quick action has saved
a lot of lives. A bomb in your lecture room was contained with
one of our devices when it detonated. One of your colleagues tried
to commit suicide when a policeman entered her lecture room. She
was immobilised before she could do anything. There have been
another twelve arrests of those who had followed you and George
or had been involved with bugging. Through Interpol there were
two more arrested in Lebanon. Admiral Chang thinks that the mastermind
behind these people is still at large but his organisation has
been devastated. Your students will be our guests for the weekend.
By Monday we hope to be sure that there are no others in the organisation
who will trouble you."
Boris said. "Sir, I am sure that all the rest of the class
will agree with me when I say that it was mainly the work of one
of us who prevented a catastrophe. I think that Anita Kohlvits
deserves a medal for what she has done. I think that she knows
more about communications and bugs than Mr. Singh does."
Gail, Armand and Elli said. 'Hear hear!' in unison.
The Commander said. "Mr. Bukovsky, Boris, Anita has already
filed a full report on the work that you all did. Every one of
you contributed information that helped to identify those who
were planning to harm Lieutenant Commander Andersson, Chief Lieutenant
Commander McFigg and Undepoldus. The work you did in checking
the strip by Undepoldus house was magnificent. The borer has now
been removed. As a team you could hold your own in any company
of Spacers. You are all an outstanding credit to Lieutenant Commander
Andersson. Now please go with Lieutenant Agonistes to the dining
room where you will be served refreshments."
The commander turned back to Marita. He said. "Marita, Admiral
Chang will arrive later today to talk to your students in the
conference room. They really are an outstanding group. For your
information only, Anita Kohlvits will receive a special mention.
Gurprit sent her design for a communicator to the College for
analysis. Two were built and tested. None of Admiral Chang's group
of communication specialists could intercept and decode the signals
produced by her design even though they knew how it worked and
when it was operating."
"Anita herself thought that it was vulnerable sir. She gave
me the impression that she was designing a better one."
"I don't think that Admiral Chang would like someone who
is not a Spacer to have better technology than we do. Anita may
not be with you for much longer."
"Sir, with respect, it would be difficult to persuade Anita
to go to the College without the rest of her classmates. Anita
has done outstanding work recently but that was because of her
expertise in communications. The other twenty-three are equally
talented but recent circumstances have not called upon their talents
to the same degree. The physicians and power unit specialists
could not use their special skills any more than the drive engineers
or the pilots."
"That is a point well made Marita. Nevertheless, although
Anita was the one who had the chance to use her specialised knowledge
more than any of the others, she showed that her knowledge is
exceptional and she used her expertise extremely well. You should
know better than most that it is often a chance event that enables
someone to show the extent of her talents. Anita had the chance
and has made best use of it."
Marita asked. "What was the business about a borer? I didn't
hear anything about it."
"Alexander Velikovsky and Jean Valèry thought that
there was a pit under the strip that carries visitors past Undepoldus
House. They checked. There is. They then decided to check if it
would be possible to burrow under the foundations of Undepoldus
House from the pit. It was possible. They asked Anita if a remote
controlled or programmed borer could be set to drill a hole through
the rock and soil under Undepoldus House. If it was possible,
could it be detected? Anita found out how planetologists used
echo sounders and designed a special device to listen for unusual
noises under the strip. It was like a little bug but it monitored
underground vibration and the direction it came from. A borer
was found, so she and the other students took turns to monitor
the borer's progress via the bug. The borer had started horizontally
and was beginning to move upwards under the display area. In another
day or two there would have been a hole under Undepoldus. You
can imagine what that could have led to."
"Sir. George saw them patrolling the strip and got images
of them. I was furious when I found out that they had spent the
day at Undepoldus House because I had told them not to try to
protect Undepoldus, George and myself. George argued with me.
He said that they were such a bright group, they would have a
very good reason for going against my wishes. He was right as
usual. I completely underestimated their intelligence. I should
have known better."
"Marita, Even a parent seldom knows what a child can do.
If ever you have any children, you will find that out for yourself.
Be thankful that your students can still surprise you with their
intelligence and abilities. I think that it is time that I welcomed
them to the Club and told them what arrangements have been made
for them."
PAUSE
The next section covers the way the
teams worked.
Viewers familiar with this subject may pass on to the following
section.
Please select PASS or CONTINUE.
S