Chapter TWENTY-SIX
Zolan peered ahead. Reaching the depot's perimeterwas less of a problem than he had anticipated.Following a few short stops to surface stationsto inspect military tunnels and comm links, andvalidate the flitter's flight record, he divertedto a depression between Coldfield and the horizon.Resetting coordinates had taken seconds. Resumingflight, he quickly merged for a short distance witha queue of tugs and taxis along a crowded lane, thenveered sharply up toward the Logistics Depot.
Blending his flitter's comm with the flood ofelectronic signals from nearby tugs and transportsat the Gateway, Zolan drew closer to the hugeDepot and took shelter in a knot of lashed vessels.Taking several deep breaths, he fixed his eyes andmind on the depot. Concentrating, he constrictedand relaxed his neck and shoulder muscles in anirregular pattern, and repeated the rhythm until itinvoked a slight pressure high in his left shoulder.The stresses energized the short-range sendingdevice implanted in him prior to the Sentinel'sescape.
His words, inaudible beyond his voice box, openedcontact with the depot's command post.
"Calling Ditch-digger," he intoned. "Ditch-digger,refer to your k-library program file 6756, andrespond on Bootstrap."
He repeated the message and waited. It would taketime for the comm technician on duty to work itout. The communications staff would scurry about,searching for the program. Restricted to Sentinel,this contact would be its initial activation.
The receiver in his ear whispered, "This isDitch-digger in Bootstrap. Continue."
"Ditch-digger. Scramble 16."
Zolan hunched and tightened his shoulders to switchchannels.
The voice came through. "Done."
"I want to speak with Colonel Hanno."
"One moment, please."
A short pause.
"Hanno."
"This is a Sentinel call. Break the seal on yourcopy of the Sentinel Support Plan and refer toAnnex C, Section 21, line numbers 416 to 422.Note the encryption structure. I will cite the linein the structure that authenticates my requestfor support. Waiting."
Minutes passed. Breaking the seal on the highestclassification Sentinel Support Plan was a graveresponsibility that Hanno would not take lightly.He would need to do it in the station's securityvault with no witnesses present. The comm centerwould then need to be cleared of personnel otherthan Hanno before the exchange could proceed.Finally, the receiver whispered again.
"I have the lines you refer to. Continue."
"Note how the authenticator is to be stated,"Zolan said.
He rattled off a sequence of numbers, lettersand symbols. Injecting a short, prescribed silence,he spun off another set. The authenticator wasin two parts, each requiring its own style forpresentation.
"Authenticator confirmed," Hanno said after apause. "State request?"
"I'm in a flitter near the Gateway," Zolan said."Request permission to come aboard and haveunattended access to the spunnel transmitterfor about five minutes. I will then depart."
"Permission granted. Do you wish an escort fromyour present position to the dock?"
"Yes, please send an unarmed tug to lead me throughthe gate, match me up, and point me at the dock. Tugoperator and anyone else that observes my presenceor the flitter must not repeat must not log theserial number of my flitter or any of its features.Clear all your people to beyond five meters in alldirection from the passageways I'll be using, andfrom the spunnel comm center. I am armed witha hand weapon set for maximum effect withoutcollateral damage to non-organics. My missionrequires such precautions. Do you accept theseconditions?"
"I accept."
"Noted. Have an unarmed guide at the air lock toprecede me to the spunnel console. Instruct him tonot speak to me, no questions, and to not interferein any manner in what I do. When I've completedmy work in the comm room the guide is to lead meback to the air lock. The same tug is then to getme through the Gateway, same conditions, and I'llbe out of your way. When I'm gone conduct yourhighest-level UIPS security briefing. This missionis classified UIPS Black. Understood?"
"Understood. Ready?"
"Ready. I am moving toward the Gateway and will bethere in two minutes. Have your man flash his redsand greens at one-second intervals. I will respondwith standard flitter yellows at the same spacing.Over. Out."
Zolan carefully adjusted the controls to slip theflitter away from the screening vessels. Clear,he maneuvered his craft close to a space buoythat marked the route through Fandango.
A yellow-green striped tug appeared in the distanceand grew larger. The Gateway's diameter could expandto pass the largest freighters or close completely.It could be straight or as convoluted as a randomlyconfigured corkscrew. The tug passed through,flashing the agreed-on signals.
Zolan responded. The tug stopped, reversed heading,and waited for him to line up. Inside the forcefield, the route took them over, under and aroundhuge freighters and through swarms of shuttles,tugs, and barges. Five hundred meters from thedepot Zolan pressed a disk on his control columnand a mag beam reached out and locked on to the tug.
The tug's thrusters glowed brighter with the powerto match up both craft. Aligned, Zolan released thetug, and gentling his thrusters, brought his flitterto rest on a landing platform that had articulatedfrom a portal.
Space suit closed and glare screens partiallyactivated to veil his features, Zolan strode theDepot's corridors behind his escort. Although hehad docked at the portal nearest his destination,the spunnel console was still almost a quarter kayfrom the air lock.
Reaching the console chamber, Zolan motioned hisguide to wait outside. He entered and inspectedthe area for intruders and bugs. It seemed secure.
Approaching the squat spunnel transmitter he notedthat Hanno had activated the system for immediateuse and disengaged all logs and file-for-recordlinks. Confirming the disconnect, Zolan wastedno time in preliminaries. Inserting the capsule hekeyed the transmitter to the channels assignedto Sentinel and set off his burst.
The transmitter was a model that dated back severalcenturies to the depot's construction. Zolan knewfrom his training for the mission that a spunnelburst from the depot had to be arranged in parts.Each segment was to be inserted separately intothe spunnel dispatch slot. The ancient transmittercould process only so much at a bite.
Zolan held the final segment and reached to insertit. A couple of seconds and the transmission wouldbe complete. The console was coded to dissolvethe capsule immediately following the burst; therewould be no residue.
Zolan bent to insert the end of the message.
Sensing movement behind him, he slipped sidewaysand hit the deck. Without warning and in theline-of-fire, the squat console disintegrated asa rending flash arced across to where he had beena fraction of second before. Off balance, twistingto face the door, Zolan drew his weapon.
The flash blinded him. His suit shielded himagainst the instant hell-fire that bounced offthe console.
Silence followed the attacker's second shot. Zolancrouched, weapon extended, vision clearing. Nofurther shots. Snapping a quick glance around, hetook in the damage. The console was a melted lumpand the room a shambles. He had to get out and away.
Up on his feet, he raced through the open doorway,gun raised. His escort to the comm room layspread-eagled in the corridor, head burned to acrisp by what must have been a max shot. Thecorridor was empty.
"They cleared the area of everyone but the killer,"he thought bitterly.
Having committed the route to memory as he followedthe escort to the spunnel room, Zolan raced alongthe corridors, gun in hand. No one barred his way.
The air lock came in view. He hurried through andtwisted into the flitter driver's cage. He cut themag beam to the dock and signaled the waiting tug.
##
They met on the transit strip.
Standing close, facing off the strip, observant,Zolan briefed Brad in quick, terse phrases.
"What's your assessment?" Brad asked whenZolan finished.
"It was a long, stra
ight corridor. The escort musthave been shot from the bend some distance away.Damage to the comm room was extensive. Scarfmust have an agent there. My having the areacleared alerted him. That brought on the attack."
"Did you get word to Hanno?"
"No. It would have raised questions I couldn'tanswer without breaking our cover. He'll haveto figure it out for himself. I'm concerned aboutwhat the agent will report to his control."
"Whatever they conclude, the action eliminatesthe depot as a comm resource for us. Did youget the entire message on its way?"
"I don't know. The last fragment included the PointIcarus coordinates."
Their eyes met.