Counter-Measures

  Only when the entire subsurface maze that Itreata was composed of was projected in holographic relief did the enormity of the world Staffa had built become apparent.

  A young man leaned over the wall divider in Kaylla's office and announced,

  "Something's happening to comm. I'm not sure what, but apparently it's a virus. "

  Kaylla glanced at Myles Roma who sat across from her. He, in turn, stared blandly up at the young man. "Does it erase or insert commands?"

  " It appears to do both. You can find a residual in Admin/ Com/Trex. "

  Myles swiveled in his chair to the nearest comm terminal and began inputting commands. "Let's see just what this is." He asked Kaylla, "Do you think it's Ily's work?"

  Kaylla nodded, hardly aware that Myles couldn't see her action. She was caught by the memory of Ily, smug and devious, sitting across from Staffa and a still-enslaved Kaylla Dawn. The overhead lights of the remembered Etarian office made the Regan woman's black hair gleam as she watched Staffa with a predatory gaze.

  -Yes, Myles, it's her work. I should have thought of this before. I'm slipping. Too many long hours."

  "It's early yet," Roma told her. "Not only that, you're in luck. By odd happenstance, you've got one of Free Space's best programmers sitting right here in your office, enjoying your stassa." At that Myles lifted

  his cup and sipped while the program displayed on the screen.

  "I don't carry many grudges, Myles," Kaylla added as she waited for the verdict. "But with Ily, I could center a blaster in the middle of her forehead and press the firing stud. I doubt I'd feel much more remorse than a person does when they step on a Riparian cockroach. "

  Myles grunted and nodded, engrossed in the screen. Finally, he leaned back.

  "Yes, she is a vile little bitch. I see what she's done. Very clever but not so terrible. This is specifically tailored. Ily didn't write this little gem.

  I'd say she stole it, bought it, who knows? Drop it into a commercial system, say the computer operations for an industrial plant forming sialon parts, and you could destroy the whole place in minutes. "

  "Then what's the good news?"

  "The good news is that for the most part, our comm system is discretionary.

  And our automatic processes can be isolated. Staffa is a military genius and in designing his system he was motivated by defense concerns. "

  Myles leaned forward. "Comm, get me security."

  A desperate STO Roberta Wheeler's face appeared. "Legate? I'm a little busy right now. If you could-- "You have a virus spreading through your comm system.

  Apparently Ily thought to sabotage your ability to function effectively. You must cancel and isolate all automatic functions. I believe you can do that through Comm/Ad/Stat/Sec/ Run. Please do that immediately and await a new patch."

  Wheeler hesitated, working her jaw from side to side, and finally jerked an angry nod. "It better work, Legate." Myles grinned with aplomb. "I assure you, STO, the last

  thing I would do is place myself in jeopardy-or my staff. If Staffa can trust me, I would imagine you could as well. And, assuming Ily doesn't destroy us all, I doubt you'll have any trouble finding me if I'm wrong. "

  Myles' screen flickered as the security center chopped portions of Itreata's computer brain out and shifted them to Myles. He glanced at Kaylla. "Can I go one step further?"

  She was nervously kneading the muscles in the side of her neck. She'd grown so used to living with tension, she

  didn't even realize she was doing it. "What have you got in mind? Manual labor?"

  ' 'Just the opposite. " Myles indicated the screen with the growing number of files. "Part of this is contaminated. We would spend days, a million man-hours, sorting the programs for fragments of virus. Why not allow the Mag Comm to do it for us? That's a totally discretionary program. The machine should be able to purify the system within a matter of hours."

  Kaylla stiffened. "Let me get this straight. You want me to authorize you to allow the Mag Comm to compromise Itreata's computer network?"

  Myles nodded. "Oh, I'll make a backup first, of course, but the Lord Commander has already banked the whole of Free Space on the machine. If he can do that, can't I bank a little of Itreata?"

  At that moment, the lights in the Seddi warren flickered, went off, then came on again.

  "Go for it," Kaylla decided, hearing pandemonium raging beyond the partition.

  Myles pressed his access stud. "Mag Comm, please." Within seconds, the curiously disembodied voice responded. "This is the Mag Comm, to whom am I speaking? "

  "Legate Myles Roma. It seems that we need your help. Minister Takka has inserted a virus into the Itreata comm. Would you be so kind as to remove it for us? It would make life a great deal more pleasant for a lot of us, and no doubt irritate Ily no end when she determines she has failed completely. "

  Kaylla raised an eyebrow, admiring Roma's complete selfassurance as he brokered a deal Kaylla would have spent hours agonizing over.

  , " can handle your problem, Legate. Will you inform me of any trouble that arises? I would also appreciate reviewing any records you might obtain of Minister Takka's reaction when she discovers her failure. "

  ' 4It will be as you . . . whoops, the lights just went out here in the Seddi warrens. This has happened once before. " "Affirmative, I am taking corrective actions. You may

  monitor my actions, Legate. I will display all files accessed for your records. "

  "That will be deeply appreciated. Thank you." "You are welcome."

  The lights flashed on again to cheers in the background. Myles paused and leaned back, a broad grin on his chubby face. "I hate Ily Takka. I hope she stews over this and does something dumb. "

  Kaylla glanced thoughtfully at the file names flashing across Myles' screen, all of them appearing and disappearing so rapidly no human eye could follow.

  "We're supposed to monitor that?" she pointed.

  Myles crossed his arms and chuckled. "Do you still think I made the wrong decision?"

  Kaylla slumped in her chair. "No, Legate. But your audacity astounds me sometimes. "

  "I met Ily for the first time here on Itreata. We didn't like each other. I won't deny that at that time I wasn't very likable. Apparently, I have changed and she hasn't. I find a great deal of pleasure in the knowledge that I was here at the right moment to stop her cold. In this case, at least, pay-backs are to the bitch."

  "Given that she was going to use my slavery as a lever to manipulate Staffa, I take great pleasure in being able to allow you to do that! " And Kaylla laughed for the first time in days. "Good work, Myles. Now, we only need to worry about the Mag Comm, finding Ily, and breaking the Forbidden Borders.

  After that, it's clear spacing from here to the future."

  "Indeed it is. Assuming we can handle these last three problems. "

  Kaylla stuck her stassa cup into the dispenser. "You're a good man with computers and programs, Myles. I don't know if you're aware of it yet, but you won't be going home any time soon. "

  He patted his stomach. "That's more than fine. I've made my peace with the future. Solving problems always creates new ones. We've a long way to go, Magister. "

  Kaylla's comm flickered as STO Wheeler's image appeared. She still looked harried, but now a little less so. "I don't know what you've done, but it seems to be working. Lights are still flickering all over the complex, but it seems to have stopped spreading. Our security override is completely paralyzed, door locks, holo cams, everything. You

  could walk out with all the secrets you wanted to right nowand I couldn't stop YOU!"

  "Let's hope Ily doesn't know that."

  Wheeler nodded grimly. "Indeed, Magister. Give my best to the Legate, and my deepest thanks." "And Ily Takka, Myles chuckled and clapped his hands.

  we'll be running you down any time now."

  Except, despite Myles' optimism, it wouldn't be that easy.

  CHAPTER 39

  Now what do I do? Be
tter yet, what's happened? During this last shift, we hooked up the comm tower for remote control. No sooner did we send a subspace test signal then the unit was activated-from outside!

  Mapahandras activates my head unit, saying, "Cut it out, Wall, you're screwing with our test. "

  À%at test?" I say. "I'm not doing anything in here but checking a system relay. I bounced a pulse off Itreata, that's all."

  "Well, " he says, "In that case, give me comm-wide. Somebody's fooling with the system and either they knock it off, or I'm going to cram this SWR meter so far up their hind portions they're going to need a med tech to remove it!"

  Practicaljokes occur on any project. The next thing that I know, I get another comm. call from Mapahandras. He tells me to stop the diagnostic run, that he Rotted well knows his job. I tell him that I'm not running any thricecursed diagnostics. He tells me that his boards are lighting up, and the monitor is giving him instructions detailing problems in the comm, powerlead, and wiring.

  The problem is, we don't find any of our people involved with any of this. As usual, the explanation always turns to ghosts. Meanwhile, more instructions are popping up on the monitors, and sure enough, the teams sent to check them out are finding trouble right where the message tells us it's supposed to be.

  We fix it and the message goes away.

  By that time, Mapahandras has had the sense to put a directional on the comm tower, and we find that not only is the message coming from outside but it's from ltreata.

  So we send a message to Itreata and get snarled up in the Blessed Gods knows what, but finally we get Magister Dawn. She says she can't say what's happening, but a virus is playing hell with Itreata comm.

  By this time, I'm getang real jumpy. Countermeasures is a top-priority project with Class One security concerns. someone from outside is activating the systems- we try pulling the plug, but one of the insumcdons is a reroute. I send a subspace to the Lord Commander. ChrYsla is Out of contact-null singularity, no doubt.

  I,m exhausted to the point of filling over. I can't get any help from Itreata, even security there is refusing to talk. What the hell is going on? is everything crazy? If we've

  got a security breach here, and if I can't find it ...

  No, don't think about it, Dee. Just keep trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, I'm posting armed guards on the bridge and on the engineering deck.

  If this baby starts to power up, we're cutting the fuel supply and overriding the reactors on manual. Or has one of the instructions we've received overTidden that,

  -Excerpt from Dee Wall's personal journal

  Staffa had experienced this moment many times, generally with a great deal of satisfaction. From where he sat in the command chair on Chrysla's bridge, he could sense the change as the huge ship's null singularity drive allowed space to bend back into its normal configuration. At the peripheries of his vision, the light played tricks as the battleship hovered in that briefest instant of violation of physical law while the light threshold reestablished itself.

  The forward monitors immediately tripped and reset, the soph1sticated comm unscrambling the violently blueshifted image the detectors and vidcams supplied them and translatirig it into an intelligible image the bridge monitors could display.

  Ahead, the Twin Titans glowed in violet-white fury as they continued their gyrating dance of flashing radiation. Characteristically, Staffa's glance shifted to the lateral Monitors in the expectation of the fleet appearing, and it took a moment to remember that those days were gone. A moment of melancholy gripped his imagination. The fleet would never again drop in massed formation, heroic victors returning from a hard-fought campaign.

  Most human beings in Free Space would sleep in peace now.

  "First Officer, alert the monitor beacons. " Staffa propped an elbow on one of his gray-clad knees and glanced at Lynette Helmutt, who reclined with the gleaming worry-cap covering her head.

  Her voice answered through the ship's speakers. "Monitors alerted, Lord Commander. Deceleration initiated at forty gs. Consequent Delta V dump sequences initiated. We're roger zero zero one on course relay. Monitors report ... Sir, we've got a condition Red-TWo, I repeat, a condition RedTwo at home. "

  Staffa straightened, calling, "Comm First, I want subspace to Itreata Security. "

  "Coming on-line, sir. Screen A seven."

  Staffa focused on one of the monitors that rose from the instrument cluster on his chair. STO Roberta Wheeler stared out, looking for all the universe as if she were condemned.

  "Lord Commander," she began. "It is my misfortune and responsibility to inform you that Itreata's security has been penetrated by Minister Ily Takka and her assassin, Arta Fera. They entered under the guise of Lady Attenasio and her servant."

  Staffa experienced that sense of emptiness in his gut. "Chem-code and retinals didn't pick up Ily's ID?- Wheeler shook her head. "No, sir. We ran it through the

  system, sir. Evidently she's been into a genetics lab somewhere and acquired a new ID card and retinal modification. Everyone was suspicious, but we couldn't pin it down. In the meantime, we thought we needed to treat the Lady Attenasio as her position merited. We took a tissue sample, of course. We've now run a complete recombination on the sample and have a positive. It is Minister Takka. Since the other woman matches Lady Attenasio's DNA perfectly, we assume we're dealing with the Fera clone." Wheeler hesitated, coming to attention. "I take full responsibility and offer myself for such disciplinary action as you may require. "

  "Let's not rush into recriminations. What actions have been taken?"

  "Ily attempted to sabotage the comm. Legate Roma and Magister Dawn countered that threat. We lost control of security for several hours, but things are pretty much back to normal. In the confusion, however, Ily drugged the STU I'd placed to monitor her actions and slipped away with Professor Sornsen. "

  Wheeler swallowed the way she would if her mouth had gone dry. "We've begun a room by room search. I've taken every action I can think of. Sir . . . well, Second Gin Austen is here, sir. He's ready to assume responsibility. "

  Staffa shook his head. "Let's not deal with that yet, STO. When we have this taken care of, we'll look at the mistakes made and determine how to avoid them in the future, and what actions, if any, to take regarding discipline. For the moment, I still have full confidence in you."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "What word on the Wing Commander?"

  "She's insystem aboard Gyton. ETA five days at her present deceleration."

  Staffa checked his navcomm, inputting figures. "If we allow our present course to carry us deep, and then drop Delta V at fifty-five g, we should just about match her ETA. We'll be a little late, but only a couple of hours."

  "Yes, sir. "

  "I'm patching this through to Ryman Ark. Coordinate with him when I clear. In the meantime, forward the records of what happened to me and I'll review them."

  "Yes, sir. "

  Staffa ran the patch to Ark's personal comm and sat for a moment, staring at the Twin Titans on the bridge monitors. Ily, Rot her, had found a way in.

  Something in Skyla's interrogation had clued her in. Staffa had reviewed the interrogation. Ark had recovered the records from the Ministry. The key must have been when Ily was probing Skyla about the Fera clone.

  And I interpreted it as Hy's curiosity about her pet killer. He rubbed his forehead. When it all worked out, he was going to find that STO Wheeler had played by the rules. In all the years he'd known her, she hadn't made more than a couple of trifling errors, never a major goof.

  And I didn't forward a copy of Skyla's interrogation to Itreata. Rob Wheeler would have pored over it, looking for any possible angle.

  so busy Staffa chewed on his lip, fists knotted. He'd been with the political entanglements that he hadn't taken the time to think it through. And he'd allowed personal concern about Skyla's psychological health to cloud his judgment when it came to security and command.

  "First Officer," he ordered,
"we're going in hot. Tell the crew they've got ten hours to prepare for a hard ride. "Affirmative. "

  Staffa narrowed his eyes as he stared at the shining dot that marked Itreata's location. He was looking at his home, the place where he'd been secure and safe. And now, because of his errors, two insidious reptiles were crawling through that warm haven; and they could be in any room, under any piece of furniture.

  Someone was going to get bitten before it was all over.

  Sinklar walked down the corridor, passing men and women in spacer's whites.

  Unlike most of Chrysla, the gun deck had a busy feel to it, vibrant and warmer than the rest of the ship. Of course, people lived here, but even so, the atmosphere still carried that scent of professionalism.

  Sinklar located 176-B and touched the lock plate. "Adze? You there? It's Sink."

  The hatch slipped sideways to produce a black-skinned woman. African, Sinklar noted with smug satisfaction. She smiled at him and said, "I'm Doreen. I bunk with Adze. She's down a level in the CS. She should be finished soon. You might go on down."

  "The CS?-

  "Combat Simulator. It's a virtual reality teaching machine. Keeps us tuned up. " She gave him a wry grin. 4 'You wouldn't want to forget what a blaster bolt feels like when it crackles past your ear."

  "Thanks. "

  Sinklar glanced back and forth, trying to orient himself Doreen hooked a thumb back the way he'd come. "Abo ut

  sixty meters back that way you'll find a lift that will take you down. When you step out, take a left and proceed about one hundred and eighty meters. The CS is behind the double doors on'the right.

  "Thanks again. "

  As close as Sinklar could figure, Doreen might have measured it with an EDM-She could have called fire data for Shiksta's ordnance any minute of the day.

  "Wonder if she wants a job?"

  He palmed one of the doors on the CS open and entered a room lined with gear.

  A tech specialist sat behind a desk, glancing up curiously.