No Direction Home Page 5

  ‘Well, we’re reviving the Peacekeepers – won’t that be enough?’

  Vinter shook his head. ‘If Stalker is hostile, they’d probably predict that we’d do that anyway as soon as we detected them.’

  ‘Except that their presence on board is secret.’

  ‘It’s supposed to be, yes, but, according to our calculations, Stalker left Earth about seven years after we did. Do you honestly think what was left of the UN managed to keep its secrets? I think they’ll know pretty much everything there is to know about who we’ve got on board – and their signals to their agents on board will probably tell them quite specifically not to bother with the Peacekeeping Force. They won’t want them putting themselves at risk unnecessarily.’

  Ferreira gave him a considering look. ‘You seem very certain of all this.’

  Vinter shrugged. ‘It’s what I’d do in their situation. They’ve gone to a lot of trouble to plant their source on board – they’re not going to risk losing it.’

  Ferreira nodded. ‘Makes sense – they said you were good, and I’m beginning to see why. So we need something they won’t have predicted?’

  ‘They’? Who are these people that seem to be talking to everyone about me? ‘We need a downright lie – but a plausible one. However, we need to think how it’s disseminated – if we claim to have nuclear weapons on board, for example, we can’t just announce it on the TV channel.’

  ‘Hardly.’

  ‘We need a series of revelations, leaked through relevant departments one after the other, so that it’s reasonable that it’s being disseminated that way.’ Now it was Vinter’s turn to shrug. ‘A problem with a batch of food tablets goes through Hydroponics, something wrong with the manoeuvring jets goes through Engineering, a fault in the chambers is dealt with by Cryonics and so on. What we do is to tell the personnel that, naturally, they are to say nothing to anybody – we don’t want people worrying unduly and so on, then wait for the source to send a signal. If nothing happens with the first rumour, we move on to the next one. Even if we don’t actually catch the source at that point, we’ll have narrowed it down to a specific department.’

  ‘Except that we’ll have a number of key personnel worrying about non-existent problems.’

  ‘I had the impression that uncovering this source had absolute priority.’

  Ferreira nodded slightly, conceding the point. ‘Yes, you’re right, Inspector.’

  ‘In any case, we can always play it down later on – somebody over-reacted to a computer glitch, whatever. The alternative is to sit around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for the source to make a signal, because, believe me, Colonel, trawling through the records isn’t going to get us anywhere. Whoever this is, EarthCorp or New Dawn, has gone to a whole lot of trouble to get this source on board – there’s not going to be anything in their file to give them away.’ He paused, then said, shrugging slightly, ‘Of course, there might not be a source at all.’

  ‘Explain.’

  ‘Just because they’re sending what appears to be highly encrypted signals doesn’t mean that there’s anyone here to receive them. The fact that we can’t decode the signals might be because they are utter gibberish and therefore indecipherable. The whole point might be to have us running around in ever-decreasing circles hunting for non-existent spies and trying to decipher messages that don’t mean anything anyway. And no, it isn’t a case of going to a lot of effort – all they have to do is send us nonsense messages and we have little alternative but to react in exactly the way they want.’

  Ferreira looked as if he had just swallowed something inedible. ‘Is this the sort of thing you do every day, Inspector?’ he asked with a hint of disbelief. ‘Play mind games?’

  ‘Pretty much, yes. It’s what the intelligence world is all about, mostly.’ He shrugged. ‘The point is that I can’t afford to take that last possibility as the truth. We’ve got to see about identifying this source.’

  ‘Whether it exists or not.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Inspector, I’ve decided I do not envy you your job at all… Very well, we’ll do as you suggest.’

  ‘Thank you. We’ll need to consult with Department Heads to find out what specific problem would cause them the most concern – self-contained, so that they wouldn’t liaise with other departments over it, but serious enough to warrant rapid action.’

  ‘And if the source is one of the Department Heads?’

  ‘Then we have a problem, to put it bluntly.’ Vinter shrugged. ‘However, the source is more likely to be a lower level individual – fewer security checks and evaluations to get through back on Earth.’

  Ferreira nodded. ‘So who do you suggest we start with?’

  Vinter thought for a moment. ‘Probably something to do with our manoeuvring capabilities – or maybe we’ve sustained some damage from cosmic debris – something that will affect whatever fighting capability we’ve got.’

  ‘Astronautics, then?’ Ferreira nodded agreement. ‘I’ll tell Li Sung to report to me as soon as possible. Say fourteen hundred here?’

  ‘Fourteen hundred it is.’

  As he made his way back to the UNSEC office, Vinter found himself wondering about his willingness to believe that it was EarthCorp, not New Dawn, aboard Stalker. There was absolutely no indication either way, so far – the long-range images that they had obtained of Stalker were of little use in that respect. They were head-on and if the spacecraft had any insignia on its hull, they were not visible from that angle; all that could be seen was a grainy, computer generated image of a disc – the ice shield, hiding the main body of Stalker behind it. OK, so, of the two, EarthCorp probably had the edge in technological capabilities, but New Dawn had more than enough population and raw materials for a starship project – in all honesty, it was just as likely to be one as the other. Was it that he had always seen EarthCorp as the aggressors, with New Dawn forced into retaliation to protect itself? I mean, everyone knew that had happened to Hong Kong five years ago (well, closer to ninety now), with that nerve gas attack that had killed over a hundred thousand – and that tactical nuke detonated in Kalkuta a year later, both of them EarthCorp atrocities.

  He came to a halt so abruptly that someone walked into him from behind; Vinter muttered an apology, but barely noticed the other man. Memories – you’re talking about memories… Had they been fed into him as part of the subliminal briefing sessions during his revival? Was this another instance of his memory being unreliable?

  But why would the UN do that – try to make him favour New Dawn over EarthCorp? What the hell difference could it make now?

  All I seem to do these days is ask questions with no answers… but they all seem to have a common factor.

  Memories.

  And whether he could trust them.

  *****

  ‘Chris – er – Inspector! Over here!’

  Vinter, who had just turned away from the self-service area in the Savoy Grill, as the cafeteria was laughingly called, looked over at the waving figure at the table next to the wall and grinned in surprise – it was Ilona Novaska. She was smiling broadly and indicated the vacant chair opposite her; Vinter nodded and made his way over there. ‘Hi, Ilona – I thought you’d been put back into deep freeze.’

  ‘I was,’ she said brightly. ‘Then they revived me again.’

  ‘Anything to do with the Peacekeepers, by any chance?’

  ‘You got it. They’re rushing them all through the revival process as fast as they can, so all of my team has been revived to help.’ She gave him a shrewd look. ‘Something to do with a spaceship following us, so the rumour goes.’

  Breach of security – Ferreira will hate that. Vinter hesitated, then nodded. ‘It’s something like that.’

  ‘Shit, no kidding? From Earth?’

  ‘I damn well hope so – the last thing we need are monsters from interstellar space right now.’

  ‘And that was why you were revived?’

  ‘Well, ye
s.’

  ‘So are we intending to fight this ship or something?’

  ‘Looks like it, to be honest. We don’t even know what they want, but… the new CO says it’s better to be safe than sorry, but I get the feeling that he’s already made up his mind.’

  ‘Ferreira? Yes, I’ve met him. Gave us all a pep talk about how vital our input is – and that we weren’t to tell anyone about what we were doing.’ She shrugged. ‘Still, I suppose as you’re the Security Chief, you’re not just anyone.’

  ‘Don’t bet on it… But Ferreira wants all this kept quiet?’

  ‘And how. All the troops are confined to Section One Delta and everyone else has been moved out.’ She saw the look on his face, and asked, ‘Didn’t you know?’

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ he replied grimly. Ferreira had some explaining to do…

  ‘Well, it is being kept bloody quiet,’ she continued. ‘None of the troops are allowed out and nobody’s allowed in.’ She seemed suddenly uneasy. ‘Actually, I’m not even sure I’m allowed to be here, to be honest. Nobody’s said I can’t, but…’ Ilona leaned forward, her voice lowered. ‘Chris, there’s something not quite right about all this. I don’t know what it is, but… We’re not allowed to talk to the Peacekeepers at all – my team, that is. All the orientation processing is being done by other Peacekeeper officers – we’re limited to the purely physical rehab. We’re not allowed to ask even standard questions – there’s always a Peacekeeper medic present. I mean, isn’t that taking security to ridiculous lengths?’

  Actually, no, it isn’t, considering we’re looking for infiltration agents, but…

  ‘Specialist Novaska?’ A peremptory voice said suddenly at his elbow. Vinter turned his head, the sudden movement making the newcomer, a Peacekeeper lieutenant, take an involuntary step backwards. ‘My apologies, Inspector, I did not realise it was you. However, I must ask Specialist Novaska to accompany me back to Section One Delta immediately. Her presence is urgently required.’

  ‘Why?’ Vinter asked bluntly.

  ‘That information is classified, sir.’

  ‘Even from me? What level are we talking about?’

  ‘Even from you, sir. I’m sorry, sir, but I have my orders.’

  ‘It’s OK, Inspector,’ Ilona said, rising to her feet, but Vinter caught her momentary anxious expression.

  ‘You’re sure?’

  She nodded. ‘Really it is, sir.’

  Making one last attempt, Vinter nodded at her plate. ‘You haven’t finished your meal.’

  ‘The matter is extremely urgent, Inspector,’ the lieutenant interrupted.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure it is,’ Vinter said thoughtfully, rising to his feet in turn as Ilona left, giving him a half-hearted smile. As they moved away from him, the officer said something to her that Vinter could not catch; she seemed startled, then nodded slowly, as if in resignation. As they went out of the door leading to Section One, she glanced back at him momentarily, but, before he could make out her expression, she had gone.

  *****

  ‘Ferreira, what the hell is going on in Section One Delta that is so secret that not even I can get in there?’

  Ferreira glared up at him from his seated position behind his desk, then sighed exaggeratedly. ‘It’s normal courtesy to knock first, Inspector.’

  ‘It’s normal courtesy to let a Security Head know what the hell’s going on in a section that is actually part of his area of responsibility. Your men won’t even let me enter the bloody place. Said they were your orders.’

  Ferreira nodded. ‘They were,’ he said bluntly. ‘If you want to make it official, then I can sign orders relieving you of your security duties for Section One Delta and re-assigning them to the Peacekeeping Unit. Would you rather I did that – did it by the rules? I get the impression that it would not exactly fit in with your past record – going by the rules, that is, but we can do it that way, if you wish. The problem with that is that it would draw attention to Section One Delta and that is the last thing I want.’

  ‘OK, so why all the secrecy about reviving the Peacekeepers?’

  ‘Isn’t that obvious? If we have a source aboard reporting to Stalker, then I do not want them telling Stalker that we do indeed have a Peacekeeping Unit that we are reviving. I’m afraid that I don’t share your belief that Stalker will necessarily be aware that we have those troops on board and, although I know that you want the source to break cover, I do not want them passing on any genuine information before we catch them – certainly not of this significance. Of course, if you were to do your job properly, then all this secrecy would indeed be unnecessary, but, as it is, please allow me to carry out my job as I see fit.

  ‘Now, unless you have anything else to say, I am actually very busy – I’m sure you are as well.’

  *****

  Bastard… ‘If you were to do your job properly’ – what the hell did he think they were doing, making paper aeroplanes or something? And why hadn’t Ferreira simply passed on the information that they were taking over the security duties for Section One Delta? Bastard…

  Vinter stormed into his quarters, still in a towering rage, and tried to slam the door behind him… It hissed gently closed, its momentum deadened by the hydraulic hinge mechanism; he found himself smiling reluctantly at the anti-climax. Not how it would have happened in a vid…

  Oh, what the hell… let it go. He was only irritated because Ferreira had cut him out of the loop – and it was hardly a big deal, when all was said and done. OK, with an infiltration agent potentially on the loose, it made sense from Ferreira’s point of view to keep the Peacekeepers secret for as long as possible, even if Vinter still felt that Stalker would either know all about them, or would draw up plans on the assumption of their being aboard anyway.

  No, what had angered Vinter had been the jibe about doing his job properly. They’d fed a false story about problems with the manoeuvring jets into Astronautics and now all they could do was sit back and see if anyone rose to the bait – and if that didn’t work, they’d have to try another department; Vinter’s own estimate was that they might well have to work their way through several departments before they provoked a reaction – on the other hand, they might already have struck gold. The point was that Ferreira didn’t realise that most counter-intelligence was an exercise in patience, always prolonged by the need to accumulate information – and, so far, there wasn’t any. And, yes, part of Vinter’s own reaction was frustration – he knew damn well it could take weeks, if not months – and they just did not have that time.

  Vinter poured himself a drink, then found himself staring down at his glass as a sudden conviction came into his head.

  Ferreira’s hiding something.

  The conviction struck him almost forcibly; he had no evidence for it, but he was convinced that this was the truth. Something that he knew about Stalker, perhaps – was that why he was so convinced it was EarthCorp? Because if he did know something, he damn well ought to be sharing it with his Security Chief, even if they didn’t exactly hit it off… The methods used by the security services of EarthCorp and New Dawn were subtly different and if he knew who he was dealing with, it would help him focus on specific lines of enquiry.

  Oh yeah… like what? All you’ve got is the disinformation ploy and you know it – it won’t matter a damn which one you’re dealing with for that.

  OK, so it was just sour grapes… but Ferreira was hiding something. How did he know? Was it simply that he did not like the other man, or was it just a hunch – some sort of intuition?

  Don’t knock intuition – any police or security officer will tell you not to ignore it. It won’t ever provide evidence that will stand up in court, not by itself, but it often puts you on the right path to securing that cast-iron case in the end…

  Very true, he acknowledged, raising the glass to his lips, but then hesitated again.

  Because he had the strangest feeling that somewhere, some time, someone had said those exact same words
about intuition to him.

  And, not for the first time, he couldn’t for the life of him remember who it had been…

  *****

  Vinter looked up at the knock on the door, welcoming the break from ploughing through yet more files – the ‘legwork’ he had blithely said he would take on. ‘Come in.’

  To his surprise, it was Adebayo and Mendis; he motioned them to sit down. Adebayo took the chair in front of the desk, while Mendis pulled one over from the corner. Vinter eyed both of them speculatively, then said, ‘What did you want to tell me that you didn’t want to go through comms?’

  Adabayo nodded gravely. ‘That’s exactly it, sir. It looks as if the main comms system has been compromised. Someone’s hacked into it.’

  ‘Bloody hell… You’re sure? No, cancel that – of course you are.’

  It was Mendis who spoke next. ‘Someone’s got a firewalled line into the system – it may have been there all the time, or it may have been set up recently, but it’s there, covered by fake IDs and domains. It enables whoever has access to it to eavesdrop on all communications – internal and external.’

  ‘That’s all we damn well need… So it could be picking up these signals from Stalker?’

  ‘Undoubtedly. As far as we can tell, it hasn’t been used yet for any replies, but it could be with no trouble at all – and there would be no trace of it going through the system. We could pick up any signal once it was broadcast, but, until we detected this channel, there would have been no way of tracing the signal back to its source.’

  ‘But now there is.’

  ‘Yes.’ Adebayo again. ‘We know who the mole is.’ The statement was made without any inflexion at all; it was this lack of emotion that made Vinter sit up in his own seat, suddenly uneasy.

  ‘And?’

  ‘It’s one of ours – an UNSEC officer.’