Bridger walked down the sleek passageway that ran through the center of the crew's quarters, and—at the other end—he saw Terry McShane.
On such a big ship, with 280 people on board, it was kind of strange that they would find themselves all alone.
Must be fate, Bridger thought.
"Exploring the ship?" he said.
She smiled. "It's wonderful... more like a city."
Bridger grinned. "And it has all the problems of a small city." He paused a second. "Want a tour?"
Terry arched her eyebrows. "Aren't you still convinced that I'm a spy?"
"You may be a spy—but you're a nice spy. Besides, we're both working for the same side." He paused a second. "At least, I think that we're working for the same side."
"Thanks, I'd love to see the rest of the seaQuest."
"Great. Then, we'll start with Engineering and work our way forward. You know, there are places on board that I've never seen…
Bridger turned around and led Terry aft, wondering, What's the point of this? To get information from her... Or is there something else going on here?
"Absolutely normal vitae." Lucas said to himself, looking at the data on the screen. "Nothing but kaka." He skimmed the text material on Dr. Richard Ernst. There were also icons indicating that there was a photo and monograph files attached, scientific papers delivered by Ernst.
All public stuff.
"No surprises here," Lucas said. He had the material printed out anyway so at least he had something to give the Captain.
"Got to do better than this."
Lucas had an idea how to do it. The seaQuest's mainframe computer was in constant communication with the UEO Net. If Lucas could get clearance to travel that network, he could see what other interesting files were in the secret UEO package.
Even if the files were all tied up with security codes, cracking them should be no problem for him—though there might be some questions later.
The first step was getting into the UEO system—and staying there.
Lucas took his hands and bent them backward, splaying his fingers back, cracking the knuckles.
"Okay, boys and girls," he said, "it's show time."
Dell muttered, "Why don't you just shoot the dumb bas— Oh, I forgot. You don't have a gun yet. What a pity..."
"Quiet," Maclnnis said. "Now, wait a second."
The figure stood very still at the other end of the long passageway, unrecognizable. Marie Thibaud came close to Maclnnis, obviously scared.
Maclnnis considered turning around and walking back to the pod behind him, back to his office. And do what—hide?
But then the figure, as if on thirty-second delay, said, "Hello? Mr. Maclnnis?"
Maclnnis nodded, and he felt his breath returning to normal. He identified the voice...
"It's Kelly, from Communications. Yeah, that's—"
"You hope it's him..." Dell said.
"Come on," Rodriguez said. "Let's get moving. The longer we stay here..."
Maclnnis took a step. "Kelly, what is it...?"
Kelly started moving toward them. He had obviously been nervous too, thought Maclnnis. That standing, waiting... He had been scared too. Makes sense...
"Mr. Maclnnis, there's something wrong over at Bio One."
"Let's get those guns, eh, gang?" Dell said.
"Wrong?"
"All the sensor readings from the sealed passageways have been cut. There's interference of some kind, I don't know—it's like the computer can't see into those pods anymore."
"Isn't that swell," Dell said.
Maclnnis turned to him. "Will you shut up? Just shut up." And Maclnnis wanted to take a swing at the sarcastic bastard.
Dell put up his hands. "Sorry, just trying to inject a bit of levity into the situation."
Maclnnis turned his attention back to Kelly as the communications person walked beside him. "So, we're blind in there?"
Maclnnis's stomach was tight, as if he could throw up. And he hadn't had any food in twelve hours.
"Completely blind, sir. I could try to organize a tech team to go in." Now Kelly grinned. "But I don't think we'd get any volunteers, sir. It would have to be an order. And even then—"
MacInnis felt like groaning. "Any word from seaQuest?
"They're making steady progress toward our position. They can't be more than three, maybe four hours away."
"Let's go," Maclnnis said, and he led his group to the central pod, the communications and research hub of the base. And Maclnnis saw the various teams—the EVA people, the submersible team, the various scientists and research people—standing around.
It looked like the saddest birthday party ever.
Who forgot the party hats?
They were waiting for words of wisdom.
And I have none, Maclnnis thought.
There's no way he could make a team go into the sealed wings. Not without putting a gun to someone's head. Absolutely impossible.
His mind racing, Maclnnis thought about what he should do. Guard the points of entrance, get weapons to everyone he could trust, and—?
"Mac..." It was Marie Thibaud.
"Yes, Marie?"
"What happens... when the seaQuest gets here, and they learn what's happening, what's really going on? There's no way they'll come in."
Dell laughed. "There's a bright girl."
Maclnnis raised his hands. "No." He spun around the room, aware that everyone was watching him. "They can be ordered in..." He took a breath. "They will be ordered to come in."
Rodriguez came close to him. "Let's get those guns out, Maclnnis."
Maclnnis nodded, wondering what was going on in the two sealed-off spokes of the research station, feeling as if he were the one trapped.
Katherine Hitchcock looked up from a long table that displayed all the data about the ship's current running performance.
"Oh, Captain, I didn't see you. Is there a problem?"
"No, Hitchcock, I'm only showing off the wonders of the seaQuest."
And wonders they were, even to Bridger. This large main engineering room was the heart of the sub, Here the nuclear fusion-powered turbines were monitored, the power output constantly adjusted to meet the demands of the rest of the ship. This was also the control center for the air, water, and waste systems.
It was all self-running and self-monitoring—so the engineers said—but without Hitchcock watching over it, Bridger doubted he'd feel too comfortable a mile or two under the water.
"Where are the fusion reactors?" Terry said.
"Just below us," Hitchcock answered. "He's a powerful ship—but a quiet one."
"He?"
Bridger smiled as he explained. "Hitchcock insists on seeing seaQuest as a male."
Now it was Hitchcock's turn to laugh. "Have you seen the shape of this vessel, Captain? I'm from the ranch country of Wyoming, and, well, if this ship isn't a male, then I've got my biology all wrong."
Terry laughed, and Bridger found that a wonderful sound. Everything had been so serious in his life lately, Bridger thought, trying to lose himself in his work. Lose himself... and forget Barbara.
Laughter was such a wonderful thing.
"Well, how about the moon pool—you saw it briefly when you came in, but it's quite an amazing place."
"Lead on."
"I'm in," Lucas whispered. "Crystal. Inside the UEO Net. Now to—"
He reached for a handful of M&Ms. "Energy pellets," he called them when he spent too many hours at the console and stopping to eat was a luxury he couldn't afford.
"Now, to break whatever ICE they're using."
ICE—Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics—could vary from system to system, Lucas knew. It could range from only token resistance to something vicious that could travel back to the probing computer system and make it crash. As a precaution, Lucas had isolated his own terminal from seaQuest—so the ship's systems were protected.
Unless they had some really special ICE, really new, Lucas felt he should be able to get in and out without catching too much electronic flak.
He sat back while his computer tried access codes, trying the millions of permutations, testing possibilities, as the numbers fell into place.
"Bingo!" Lucas said, as the code locked in. As he passed through the first gateway, it didn't appear that any alarms were going off—
There was a knock at the door. Lieutenant Krieg opened it and stuck his head in.
"Hey, Wolenczak—gaming night tonight. Be there or—"
Lucas waved him away.
"Hey, what are you doing, bud?"
"Shut the door," Lucas said. "And don't let it hit you on the way out." Krieg shrugged and left.
Lucas watched the screen display the initial UEO menu. From here, the system would be wide open—or maybe not, but at least Lucas could see what they had.
"Okay, let's look at—"
He clicked on the raised letters that said, "Scientific Files." For a moment, the word "processing" flashed.
Still no trouble.
Then, there was the main directory.
Only a mere 560 pages long! And that was only the table of contents.
Lucas popped more M&Ms.
"There's got to be a search procedure," he said. He tried a few possibilities, different combinations of what he hoped were hot keys, worrying that the system might only be accessed by voice at this level.
Which would end the game right here.
But then he tapped one of the function buttons, and got a submenu. And one of the items offered for his dining enjoyment was... "Search."
"There we go," he said. "I wonder if I can put in a string request... link Ernst, the Azores... and see what I get."
He hit the keys. This part of the system was moving fast. Not much traffic, he guessed. He put in his search words, thinking this was almost too easy...
When the screen turned red.
Two words appeared at the bottom.
"Security alert."
Uh-oh. Bad news, Lucas thought. The security alert identified him as a possible intruder.
He had only a few seconds to convince the system that he belonged there, or he'd be shut out—probably for good.
Lucas pulled his chair close, riding his rocket, hitting the keys like crazy—a network cowboy riding one nasty pony...
By the time Admiral Noyce got to his UEO office, the sun was at the horizon.
The rest of the world was coming awake now, he thought. And it felt as if the few moments of being alone, to think, had vanished...
He decided to contact Bridger. Tell him what he hadn't told him before, that the research base was actually a joint project of Harpe WorldWide and the UEO.
He should have told him that before, he thought. Come clean... but if he had, what would Bridger have done?
Or rather—what would Bridger not have done?
The UEO had let Harpe get involved in the Azores station because he had the experts needed—and Harpe offered the cash to finance what would be a costly, secret operation.
Now there was something very wrong there.
There was a knock at Noyce's door.
"Admiral, Mr. Harpe wishes to speak with you."
Noyce looked up at his screen. How does he know I'm here? Noyce wondered.
Noyce nodded and said, "Put him through—and as soon as we're done, put me through to the seaQuest."
"Yes, sir."
It was time to put all the cards on the table.
"The moon pool can accommodate the full component of submersibles and minisubs that the seaQuest holds, everything from the two-person speeders to the deep-ocean transport berthed over—"
The Captain stopped talking.
Bridger hadn't been looking at the pool when they entered the launch area. And he certainly hadn't seen Lianna Hays, the EarthNet reporter, standing at one end while a HoloCam operator filmed her.
"Wait a second—what the hell are you doing?"
Bridger hurried over to the EarthNet reporter while McShane followed.
"Captain Bridger, you just ruined that take."
"Terribly sorry, but I don't remember giving you permission to—"
"Captain—" Hays was a striking woman, and now—for an actual taping—she looked more stunning than normal, her black hair falling in luxurious waves, framing her dark skin and eyes.
Bridger had been forced to let her aboard, to let her document the "wonder of the seaQuest" for regular EarthNet consumption. PR and budget approval, they went hand in hand.
"Unless I'm wrong, this is my ship and this is a secure area."
Hays smiled condescendingly. "Your executive officer, Commander Ford, approved this."
Bridger would have to talk with Ford later—though Ford had probably assumed that Hays had been given free rein to film.
"And what exactly are you doing here?"
"I'm reporting on the SousMer incident, Captain. There's a special report about it on all the news feeds tonight." Hays smiled. "You may find yourself a hero. Captain."
He caught Hays looking at Terry McShane, and not in a friendly way. Bridger introduced her. "Oh—this is Terry McShane, with the UEO."
Hays, ever gracious, extended a hand. "How nice to meet you. And you were in the resort?"
"Why, yes—I was—"
Bridger took a step backward.
"Maybe she'll find out what you were doing there," Bridger muttered to Terry.
He took another step away.
"I imagine Ms. Hays will want to get a holo of you for the big show. We'll pick up the rest of the tour..." Bridger kept backing up, while Terry gave him a look as if saying, Don't abandon me... "later."
The seaQuest was getting close to the research station, and it was time Bridger checked on the arrival, thinking that maybe—after this—a week of R&R in San Francisco wouldn't be such a bad idea.
Lucas jumped back from the keyboard.
The warning stopped flashing, and then it disappeared completely.
"Did I do it?" Lucas said. Then adopting the voice of Tweety Bird he said, "Yes, I think I certainly dood it. That wasn't too tough," he said, referring to the ICE. "Not tough at all."
He entered the command to search—under Dr. Richard Ernst, Azores Deep-Sea Research Station, and, remembering the Captain's other question, Terry McShane.
He sat back, watched, and then the data started coming in—
He stood up.
"Man, give me a break. Give me a—"
He speed-read the data as it flew by on the screen, while it instantaneously printed out behind him.
He leaned close to the screen. "Can you say 'bad news,' boy and girls?"
And then the top-secret download got even more interesting, when the system started scouring Terry McShane's file.