Starshine: Aurora Rising Book One Page 28

  Alamatto smiled weakly. He seemed nervous and uncertain, even for him, and practically bowed in deference to Solovy. Liam briefly wondered what power plays may be at work in Vancouver.

  “For several years Senecan Intelligence has maintained long-range passive hyperspectral scanners near significant Alliance assets, including Scythia, Messium, Erisen, Fionava, August and New Cornwall. They haven’t succeeded at placing any in range of Earth, but nonetheless, this has been one area in which their technology is superior to ours. We haven’t been able to do anything about the scanners, beyond obscuring signals where we can, for fear of provoking further hostilities. Obviously that is no longer a concern. Within the next two hours they will find every one of their scanners destroyed and their ability to eavesdrop on any strategic discussions or monitor troop movements effectively nulled.”

  Liam sighed. He had to admit it was a smart tactic. A little too sneaky and clever for his taste, but arguably necessary. “And after that?”

  “Here are the plans for the next four days.” A screen superimposed itself over the holo of the conference room. “For obvious reasons, this information will not be transmitted over the exanet, even secure channels, so please study it now.”

  Alamatto gestured to one of the ‘guests,’ EASC Special Projects Director Brigadier Jules Hervé. “Brigadier, thank you for coming. Would you brief us on the status of Project ANNIE?”

  Goddamn Artificial. Mere mortals should not be playing at creating life.

  “Certainly, General. ANNIE was not scheduled to go live for another four months, but given the current circumstances we are working to accelerate the timetable—” the woman glanced around the table to head off premature objections “—while maintaining strict safety protocols.”

  “During our testing, we’ve begun feeding it our existing data on the Senecan military—fortifications, assets, leadership, numbers—as well as historical data, and plan to compare its analyses with our existing tactical forecasts. We expect it to produce a number of refinements and likely valuable new insights. This will allow us to utilize some of its capabilities before formally bringing it online.”

  Rychen spoke up. “And what does ‘bringing it online’ mean, precisely? I assume we’re not handing over the codes to the missiles, but what are we planning to do?”

  Hervé adopted a more confident posture in her chair. She was an attractive woman, with piercing, intelligent blue eyes and rich mahogany hair wound back in a conservative braid. It was a shame she was a warenut.

  “Certainly we will not be handing over the codes to anything bearing lethal capability. Once ANNIE is live it will receive real-time feeds of all military, war-related and surveillance data. It will also monitor news feeds and exanet traffic.

  “To put it simply, it will look for patterns in the chaos. It will see what we cannot. We anticipate it to be able to alert us to impending attacks, secret troop movements and exploitable weaknesses in the enemy. For starters.”

  Rychen nodded. “That does in fact sound useful—and safe. Might we be overdoing the safety precautions a bit?”

  “Well, Admiral, the thing about synthetic neural nets is they display a habit of developing a mind of their own, so to speak. It’s best to keep them securely inside a high fence, because even if the core programming is perfect—which is a very big ‘if’—synthetics have been known to rewrite their internal code on occasion.”

  Alamatto gave her an appreciative smile. “Thank you, Brigadier. It goes without saying we need ANNIE’s capabilities as soon as feasible, but of course we can’t sacrifice safety and security.”

  Once Hervé had excused herself from the room, Alamatto turned to Solovy. “Admiral, when is your daughter projected to arrive?”

  “She should be planet-side midday tomorrow.”

  What?

  “Good. We’ll tentatively schedule an audience for day after tomorrow, say 1500. Needless to say, if her claims prove to be accurate they are a significant concern we must take into account.”

  “General, my daughter is many things, but fanciful is not one of them. I expect they will be exceedingly accurate. Unfortunately.”

  Alamatto appeared to wilt into his chair. “Aliens, on top of everything else…but let’s not rush to any conclusions for now.”

  Liam pushed aside the strategic plans screen he had been reviewing with half an eye—but before he could interrupt, the Logistics Director had.

  “Excuse me, did you say ‘aliens’? Is there something we haven’t been informed of?”

  Alamatto hurriedly straightened up; the expression on his face made it clear he hadn’t intended to let that slip out. “Our scientists are still examining the initial data, and I don’t want to send it to the larger group until they’ve evaluated it. It’s not an immediate concern.”

  Liam jumped in this time. “Perhaps we would be a better judge of how immediate a concern it is.”

  “You will be fully informed before we make any decisions on the matter. We’ll discuss it when the data is ready, and not before.”

  He scoffed but settled back in his chair. Aliens? Two hundred years of extra-solar exploration, and no extraterrestrial life with intelligence greater than that of a canine had been discovered. No ruins, no artifacts, no trace of sentient life. If ‘evidence’ of aliens had suddenly materialized now, it had to be an attempt at distraction on the part of the Senecans. The timing was too fishy for anything else.

  And who the Hell was Solovy’s daughter, anyway?

  37

  SIYANE

  SPACE, CENTRAL QUADRANT

  * * *

  “EBANATYI PIDARAZ, u etogo pridurka poehala krisha!”

  Caleb heard the outburst from the lower deck and hastily finished dressing after his shower.

  The morning had been a little awkward for them both as they tried to figure out what these new circumstances, this new phase of their…relationship, he supposed, meant for them. That and he struggled with what and how much to reveal regarding his new mission.

  He was relieved to have devised a way to get in the game, to be able to act to avert disaster. Volosk was on board with the plan, which essentially involved him walking into enemy territory, straight into their seat of military power—and asking for their help. It was risky, daring, highly likely to fail and reasonably likely to get him arrested or shot.

  But he didn’t make a habit of failing. Or getting shot. Getting arrested had occurred a few times, and once or twice it hadn’t even been on purpose.

  The plan stood a better chance of succeeding with her help; in truth he had no reason to keep it from her. Yet he was no longer merely the prisoner-turned-stowaway-turned-traveling companion, but again the intelligence agent. This was his job, and in his job secrecy and subterfuge were the order of the day.

  Reveal only what you must; lie if you can.

  Still, the current situation constituted an exception, right?

  The argument continued unabated in his head as he went upstairs and found her pacing in considerable agitation between the data center and the couch. “What’s wrong?”

  “This. This is what’s wrong.” He didn’t think an aural was capable of displaying anger in its generation—but if it could, this one would’ve done so. He crossed the deck to her side to read the message she had projected.

  Ms. Solovy,

  Thank you for your report on possible anomalous activity in the Metis Nebula. As you are no doubt aware, all reports must be submitted via physical data disk in order to be officially accepted. Once we receive a physical copy from you, the Astronomical and Space Science Department will review the scientific findings and contact you should we need further information.

  However, as a courtesy to the EASC Director of Operations, I have briefly looked over the report. While startling and rather disturbing, according to Earth Alliance Assembly Regulation AAS 41767.239.0655k, any claims of alien discovery must be validated by an official envoy of the Earth Alliance government using approved
protocols.

  After receipt of a physical copy of the report and analysis of its claims, if the Astronomical and Space Science Department finds them worthy of investigation, we will request authorization to assemble a survey team and deploy it to the Metis Nebula. Given the severity of the claims, we look forward to receiving the materials in a timely manner.

  Regards,

  — Dr. Aaron LaRose

  Director, Astronomical and Space Science Department

  Science Advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister

  “Well—”

  “This is why I hate politicians. This is why I hate bureaucrats. This is why I refuse to have anything to do with the government or the military or anything which remotely looks like it might be connected to the government. Stupid, bloated, overwrought bureaucracy has lost the capacity for even rudimentary independent thought. Ugh!” With a visceral groan she threw herself onto the couch and dropped her head into her hands.

  It took him a minute to get past his own stunned reaction and circle around to sit beside her. “Perhaps he didn’t actually review the report—I have to believe if he did his reaction would be a bit more alarmed.”

  “Oh, I’d believe he reviewed it.” Her voice was muffled against her hands. “But he’s a government lackey. What else is he expected to do? He has a checklist full of procedures and every fucking thing which crosses his fucking desk must be corralled through that fucking checklist. It’s the only thing which exists in his world—without it there would be chaos! And he’s probably got a fucking checklist for that, too….”

  She groaned into her hands. “I swear, I should just let them all die.”

  “Hey….” He reached over and gently pulled the closest hand away from her face, then lifted her chin so she was forced to look at him. “Possibly. But you won’t, because you’re a better person than they are.”

  “I’m really not. I can count on one hand the number of people in the universe I truly like or even particularly care about…well, maybe plus the other pinky if I have to add you.”

  “Do you?” It came out far more serious in tenor than he had intended.

  She shifted her attention away, but her mouth curved up in what closely resembled a smile. “I suppose.” He suspected it might have come out far more affectionate in tenor than she had intended.

  Then she sighed, and the moment passed. “I can already see how it will all play out. I’ll yell and scream and make an ass out of myself, and the bureaucrats will frown and hem and haw and suggest calm and caution, and I’ll end up flipping off the EASC Chairman or the Defense Minister or, hell, the Prime Minister himself. And getting kicked out of the building isn’t going to help the situation, but it’ll hardly matter at that point….”

  Abruptly her hands fell to her lap; she nodded sharply. “Okay. Pity-party over.” She leapt up and strode over to the data center.

  “I am responding to let Dr. LaRose know he will have his precious hardcopy by tomorrow evening. I am checking to make sure my mother is arranging me an audience with the EASC Board, because if anything is a matter for the military, this damn sure is.”

  She worried at her lower lip. “And I think I need to make the visuals of the scary tentacle ships bigger.”

  She eyed him over her fork piled high with pasta. He had managed to pull her away from the data long enough to sit down and eat something for dinner, though not until after he had whipped up the angel hair pasta with Campari tomatoes and spinach and the tempting aroma filled the cabin.

  “What.”

  He chuckled, a little chagrined at having been caught. Her ability to read him was approaching uncanny levels. “You do realize you’re bringing an enemy spy into Alliance military headquarters, right?”

  She rolled her eyes in mild amusement. “You won’t be recognized, will you?”

  “I highly doubt it. No more than two dozen people in the galaxy are aware of what I do for a living—and I’m fairly certain none of them are on Earth. My official record shows me as an assembly manager for Terrestrial Avionics, as you discovered, but even it’s a very old image.”

  “You’ve got fake identities, right? Can you use one of them? Samuel maybe?”

  “Samuel isn’t one, but yeah, absolutely. I can—”

  “It isn’t? Why did you use it with me, then?”

  “It’s just somebody I knew and was the first name to pop in my head.”

  “Hmm.” She frowned. “Can we say you’re a scout for a corp and we bumped into each other while investigating the Nebula?”

  “I happen to have a ready-made identity for such an occasion. I can be Cameron Roark, minerals scout for Advent Materials out of Romane.”

  “How many fake identities do you have?”

  “More than two, fewer than ten….” At her widening eyes he shrugged. “What? I’m a versatile chameleon.”

  Her expression darkened as she busied herself twirling more pasta around her fork. When she spoke, her voice had lowered noticeably in tenor and volume. “So we’re once again back to the fact that I wouldn’t know if you were lying to me.”

  He exhaled through pursed lips. “Normally I’d say no, you wouldn’t…but you appear to have my number, don’t you?”

  She regarded him with such intensity he felt stripped, bare. “Do I?”

  Still, he struggled past the instinct to mask himself behind a façade and forced himself to meet her gaze honestly. “A minute ago, I wasn’t entirely truthful as to where the name ‘Samuel’ came from—and you knew it, didn’t you?” Her mouth merely twitched in response, which was response enough.

  “The truth is he wasn’t just somebody I knew. He was the person who recruited me into SpecOps. He was my mentor and my friend for seventeen years, and he was murdered four months ago by anti-synthetic terrorists. The funny thing is, he wasn’t even especially pro-synthetic. He was simply doing his job. I didn’t mention it because…well, because I’m not ready to talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry, Caleb.”

  “So am I…but that’s a tale for another day. Alex, I’m not lying to you—about anything. And if I try you catch me, so I may as well not try. But I can’t prove it, I can only say it. And you can take it for…whatever you think it’s worth.”

  It seemed as if her eyes were searching his very soul for traces of deception, and he wondered why he had ever thought he could lie to her. He straightened up in the chair. “Which is why we need to discuss something.”

  Her gaze didn’t budge or falter. “Okay.”

  “You’re right, I do need a false identity to get inside EASC, because there’s no way they’re going to let a Senecan intelligence agent walk in the front door. But I have an idea, one which stands a chance of bringing an early end to this war and uniting us against the alien threat. And I’d like your help.”

  “Good news. Richard’s available to meet us tomorrow as well.”

  He stowed the last of the dishes and raised an eyebrow at her over his shoulder. She had responded enthusiastically to the plan, jumping at the prospect of being able to diffuse the ‘stupid khrenovuyu war.’ She had proceeded to strategize and improve upon the plan and now had increased its odds of success considerably by bringing to the table someone who might actually possess the information he needed.

  She continued to surprise him in the most unexpected ways, and he had been an idiot to think he should—or even could—do it without her.

  “So, Naval Intelligence Liaison to Strategic Command, huh? Sure he won’t shoot me on sight?”

  “It’ll be fine. He’s a teddy bear.”

  “Alex, no one in intelligence is a teddy bear.” The man was a necessary and arguably welcome player—but he would be an adversary, at least to start.

  “Well he is.” She turned to him when he joined her at the data center. “Listen. I’ve known him my entire life, and he is one of the few genuinely good people I’ve ever met.”

  “Okay. My life is in your hands, but okay.”

  “
Whatever. Besides, he’ll have no reason to doubt you because you’ll be with me. I’ll be talking about alien superdreadnoughts, and you’ll simply be….”

  “Alex’s boy-toy?”

  She laughed. “Um….”

  “How many times have you visited Strategic Command wearing a random man on your arm?”

  Her brow furrowed in a farce of deep thought. “Almost nev…once, maybe twice…three times at most. Definitely.”

  His jaw dropped open in mock indignation. “Then I shall be Alex’s boy-toy. Now that I will enjoy.”

  She grinned playfully at him, and he found himself yet again drawn into her eyes. They reflected the light from the visuals above the table, transforming her irises to an incredible luminous platinum. Mirth danced in them like fireworks against a star-soaked sky.

  Seconds passed before she tore her gaze away and focused back on the data. After a moment she flipped the position of two of the images, frowned, and flipped them again.

  “The second way was better.”

  She didn’t question his opinion and immediately flipped them back while chewing on her lower lip. “It’s not as though the fate of the galaxy rests on the order of a couple of visuals. I only hope it’s enough. Maybe when decorated by some high theatrics on my part….”

  He grasped her shoulder and shifted her to face him. “I have no doubt you’ll make them listen. You have a way of refusing to accept any alternative to getting what you want, and everyone else will find they’ve no choice but to fall in line.”

  A corner of his mouth curled up. “I mean, you got me here.”

  Her voice dropped to a murmur. “I did, didn’t I?”

  They were already standing so close. His hand, still resting on her shoulder, drifted up and slowly, carefully tucked her hair behind her ear…then lingered along the curve of her jaw. She didn’t pull away, and the ticking by of endless seconds faded to insignificance.