Dinnie’s team hunched in their chairs in the main room while they sifted through data, all of them gathered in a loose group in the farthest corner of the room. Dinnie knew they were trying to stay away from Feldman, who paced behind her in her office, alternately yelling at people in his earpiece, or watching as she flipped through the information on her display. She didn’t blame her team. She wished she could join them.
He had been yelling at someone on a call as he dashed into the bullpen, and the workers had scattered like cockroaches. He paid no attention to them, just turned into Dinnie’s office with a list of rapid-fire demands, most of them instructions she was to give to various department heads. She passed all the messages along with shaking hands. Now she was back to going over Andy Green’s personnel file, but nothing in it satisfied Feldman. None of this was in her job description, but she wasn’t about to tell Feldman that.
One of the messages she’d sent had been to one of Sun’s Intel teams, ordering up-to-the-minute information on Green. When her computer pinged with a message from them, she pulled it up just as Feldman leaned over her shoulder to glare at the man on her display and demand, “What have you got?”
“We’ve got a man who’s too busy to get into mischief,” the Intel officer said. Everything about the officer was crisp, from his black suit jacket buttoned just so, to the clean lay of the black tie against his white shirt. Light in his office bounced off the steel-rimmed glasses he wore, and he didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated by Feldman, which impressed Dinnie no end.
“Besides his full course load at Oxford,” Intel continued, “he taught part-time at Strickert Academy, a boarding school for girls. Lived in the teacher’s dorm at Strickert, had a few friends he’d play pool with on weekends, but he didn’t even do that very often. The odd date now and then, but no serious girlfriend.”
He paused to flip through data displayed at his side, then turned back. “You already know he grew up in Shelton Village. He was friends with a few people that we suspect are rebels, but there’s no indication he’s done anything for them. Hold on, here’s an odd thing ...” he scanned something, then flashed it over to Dinnie’s display. A photograph appeared beside him, of a girl with brown hair pulled tightly behind her head. She stared into the camera with solemn attention, while over her head, the words “Declared Dead,” attracted the viewer’s eye. Dinnie sensed Feldman shifting impatiently behind her.
“Moira Sherman,” the officer said. “A student at Strickert. She was reported a runaway from her enclave two days ago. They declared her dead a few hours after that.”
Dinnie shuddered. While it was possible Ms. Sherman was not yet dead, she would be, as soon as someone recognized her.
“Why do I care?” Feldman asked.
“Mr. Green is on the list of people to question,” the officer said, unconcerned about Feldman’s bluster. “All her teachers are, so ... no wait, he’s just been updated to Person of Interest.” His eyebrows rose. “Evidently she was TA for Mr. Green, and also worked as his research assistant.” He looked up from the news ticker he was reading. “No doubt they’ll be contacting his supervisor at our Oxford office. However, local security tends to let these cases slide, so they may not be in a hurry.”
Feldman crossed his arms. “So he likes young girls. It’s not our concern, unless we need to pull strings to keep him out of jail. Personnel can deal with it.”
Intel tapped another part of his display. “He’s only twenty-two. But sir,” he looked up, “this might have bearing on your search beyond handling the enclave government. Green is not stupid. If he did help the girl escape, say, for instance, he brought her to Belfast, he would know they’d be found out. It might jeopardize his position with Sun, and I don’t get the impression he would want that.” Feldman nodded and Intel continued. “If he’s helping her, his best plan would be to turn her over to someone who could hide her. Sir.” Intel went quiet to let Feldman reach his own conclusion.
“The rebels,” Feldman said. “But it’s a stretch to think he brought her to Belfast. He’d be smarter to turn her over to someone in Oxford. Check on both possibilities and get back to me.”
Intel acknowledged and closed the connection. Dinnie was sorry to see him go.
“Dr. Warner,” Feldman said, and Dinnie jerked in surprise, “given his background, is it possible that Mr. Green knew of the neutrinos before we hired him?”
“He never reported anything, sir,” she said. Document and report at once was the requirement for anyone working in the field. In Andy Green’s case, he should have reported it to his advisor.
“That isn’t what I asked.” He moved to her side and leaned against the wall, watching her face. “He’s ambitious. Perhaps he noticed and kept quiet because he wanted credit for a breakthrough.”
“Oh.” Dinnie ran through a mental image of his personnel file and gave a reluctant nod. “He’s a tenacious researcher, and he had clearance for detectors at Oxford, Belfast, and CERN. In addition, he received regular updates electronically from ten other detectors, as well as NISS.” Her throat closed when she mentioned the space station and she had to cough before she could go on. “It is possible that he saw the original detection in March, before we suppressed it.”
“Do you have access to the work he was doing this year?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Look it over. While you’re at it, call Intel back and have them send you access to the girl’s work at Strickert. Let’s see if any dots connect.”
~~~
Once inside the warehouse, Andy, Sam, and Sarah found their way blocked by more guards. Panicked, Andy glanced around for Moira, but she was already gone. He did see Karen, standing to the side with Pete and a few other people.
Karen caught his eye and jerked her head toward a hallway. “There’s a small infirmary up a few floors. Doc has her. He’ll be in touch.” She held up both hands. “I’m sorry, but a search is necessary. Just stay where you are.”
The guards first ran a scanner over all their equipment, but they showed no particular interest in any of it. At a guard’s request, Andy stepped forward and stood with legs straddled, as another guard first ran a scanner over him, then did a pat down. Sam went next, staring straight ahead with a stoic expression. When the guard approached Sarah, she jerked back, arms tight at her sides. All the guns came to attention, two trained on Sarah, the others on Andy and Sam.
“Sarah, easy ...” Sam said. His voice was soft. He glanced at Karen, but watched Sarah as he said, “We don’t do this kind of thing on our world. She’s just nervous.”
Karen nodded. “I understand. But you’re not on your world, and here, we search people.”
Sarah bit her lip, her face red. “If this is really necessary, I’d prefer it if a woman searched me.”
Karen glanced at the man standing next to Pete, an Asian whose mixed-Irish blood showed in his red hair and a line of freckles across his nose. He lifted a finger and nodded once, watching Sarah with lively interest. Most of the guns returned to a guarded rest, but one stayed on Sarah, and another one stayed on Sam and Andy. The guard who had approached Sarah stepped back and one of the women came forward with the scanner.
“All right?” she asked. Sarah nodded, and spread her arms and legs. Her lips trembled, but she made no sound as the guard skimmed the scanner along her right side, then her left. When it reached her left hip, a beep sounded. Sarah jerked, as if preparing to run, and more guns came to bear on her. She went still, arms and legs still straddled. Her hands shook with violent tremors, as she stared at Sam with wild eyes.
Andy placed a warning hand on Sam’s arm, keeping him in place.
The guard handed the scanner off. “Empty your pockets, Miss. Slowly.”
Sarah sniffed, wiping a tear on her shoulder, before moving her hands to the pockets of her cardigan. “I don’t have anything in there,” she said, just before her hand slid inside. Her face went white. Andy was afraid she’d faint, but she stayed upright, bringing her hand back in sight, a tiny computer chip pinched between finger and thumb.
“That’s not mine,” she whispered, her eyes on the guard, begging to be believed.
“How did it get in your pocket?”
“I don’t know. Please believe me, I didn’t know it was there.” She looked at Sam. “I really don’t know.”
The Asian stepped in front of Sarah and held out his hand. She stared at him, but dropped the chip without any other comment. He turned it over a couple times, lips pursed in thought. Then he gestured to the guard to finish searching Sarah. She did it efficiently, and stepped back, shaking her head.
He held Sarah’s gaze. “Name and sector?”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“What is your name? Where are you from?”
“I’m Sarah Andrews. From ... Belfast.” Her chin went up. “And you are?”
He bowed slightly. “I am Ned O’Malley. I lead this cell. Now tell me, you are from Belfast, you say. But not from ... this ... Belfast, I understand?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you elaborate, Miss Andrews.” It wasn’t a question.
Sarah licked her lips. “I don’t know how much you know or understand about it. We’re from ... a different universe. One that is an offshoot of this one, but there it is 1980.”
Behind Andy, someone snickered. A few of the guards looked amused. Ned just nodded. “I have been told some of this. We have much to talk about. But first,” he held the chip up. “If this isn’t yours, then someone put it in your pocket. Who?”
She stared at him. Andy held his breath and kept his hand on Sam. They all watched Sarah.
Her face relaxed suddenly. “The only person I’ve been around today was Dr. Warner. Well, and Dr. Russell when she came to take out my chip. But I think it was Warner. She came to the lab and showed me a note, telling me that Sam was working on an escape bridge. I don’t know why she was helping us, but she was. When I was on the computer after that, she sat down next to me. She must have done it then.”
Ned tilted his head. “Dinnie Warner?”
“Yes. Is she one of your people?”
He exchanged a glance with Pete, who shrugged. Andy spoke up. “She did help us. She saw what we were doing. She could have turned us in, but instead she told us Feldman’s schedule, and she said she’d make sure that Sarah was ready.”
“Okay.” Ned gave the chip to Pete. “Check it.”
Pete moved to a computer near the door. At Ned’s gesture, the guards released Sarah who ran to Sam.
Andy followed Pete. “Should you insert it in there? What if it carries a virus?”
“This computer’s isolated from any network. We use it for this kind of thing,” Pete said.
Ned and Karen approached, shepherding Sam and Sarah ahead of them. Ned looked from one to the other, his appraising glance taking in each of them. The guards lounged back into casual poses, but Andy had no doubt they could pull those guns in lightning time.
“I expected the girl,” Ned said. “Karen and Pete have vouched for you,” he nodded at Andy, “and Karen tells me that you insist I want to meet these two. If they are who they claim to be ...” His inclined head and raised brows made it a question.
Andy nodded, shooting a nervous glance at Pete, who flipped a hand without looking up from his computer. It was up to Andy. “It’s quite complex,” he said. “The short explanation is that these two people come from an alternate universe, using a quite advanced form of physics. They were prisoners of Albert Feldman.”
“Which begs a question.” Ned held up a finger and fixed a sharp gaze on Sam and Sarah. “That’s an incredible bit of technology you’ve got there. How did Feldman manage to imprison you? Can’t you just use your time machine, or whatever it is, and go back where you came from?”
“We were stunned unconscious.” Sam shrugged. “Feldman filched our equipment. When he returned it, he kept the chip that facilitates travel between the universes. We can go anywhere in this universe, but we can’t go home without that part.”
“That’s Feldman, all right.” Ned’s finger twirled in a “please continue” gesture. “What is it he wanted you to do?”
“Build him a bridge machine of his own,” Sam said. “He wants to use bridges as transport corridors around the planet, and out to the space station.”
“Is that possible?”
Sam rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Look, I’m not unsympathetic to the problems in this world. But can you understand that we did not come here to be used as pawns in your war? Feldman wants to use our technology, and now, so do you. How can we truly understand what’s going on here, even assuming we wanted to get involved?
“Well of course, I understand,” Ned said. “But you must understand that there’s not a bloody thing I can do about it. Leaving aside the question of why you came here, you must have known that you were taking a wee chance. You didn’t know what you’d find, but you came anyway.”
He smiled, but Andy saw very little amusement in it. “I could just let you wander out of here. Let you take your chances with Feldman and his security forces. I can guarantee you’d be back in his clutches in a few hours.”
“We could build a bridge,” Sarah said. “We can go anywhere. He won’t find us.”
Ned laughed, and this time Andy heard real amusement. The guards thought it was funny, too. “How much do you know about this planet? Even if you were lucky, and picked a place that wasn’t toxic, you’d just be picked up by that sector’s security. Assuming they didn’t kill you outright.”
Pete chimed in, turning his chair to face the group. “Feldman’s got forces deployed all over the world, too. He’s the closest we have to a world-wide despot.”
“And he’s got neutrino detectors everywhere,” Andy said. “He wanted to be ready for you no matter where in the world you came through. You remember the men who found us at the university? He could find you that quickly no matter where you go.”
Sarah took a breath, as if preparing to argue, but Ned jerked his chin at Pete. “What’d you find?”
“That you’ve been busier than any of us thought.” Pete swung the monitor around so it faced the group. Andy could see that the screen displayed a manifest of some kind, but he wasn’t near enough to see detail.
Pete tapped a button, flipped through documents. Ned peered over his shoulder, and after three quick pages, his finger started tapping on the back of Pete’s chair. “What the feck is he after?”
Pete shook his head, intent on his screen. “Framing you, for whatever it is.”
“Is he trying to blow up NISS?”
“With this many explosives, there’s no “try” about it.”
“NISS is your space station, isn’t it?” Sarah asked.
When no one responded, Andy answered. “Yeah. It’s in a LaGrange orbit ...”
“I know its orbit,” Sarah said. “And its coordinates. Feldman had me designing containers to transport over the bridge to it.”
Everyone turned to look at her. “Containers for what?” Ned asked.
“Didn’t say. But he wanted the containers to be weapons-proof.”
“Maybe he’s trying to take it over?” Sam asked.
The crowd was silent, exchanging glances. Pete held up a hand. “Sun already controls security on NISS, and they’re de facto managers of the place. But it really is international, and there is strong favor for the rebels among the people who live there full time. They can’t act overtly, but they still manage to cause headaches. So Feldman blows up the station, or at least part of it, making it look like we did it. Then he gets his army on site, using new technology. The army declares martial law and restores order, with Sun firmly in control and Allied Rebels thoroughly discredited.”
“But people will die.” Sarah’s face revealed her shock.
“That’s never stopped Feldman before,” Ned said.
“I would think,” Sam said, looking to Ned, “that with your extensive drop in population, human life would be considered precious. That your governments would be engaged in protecting lives to increase your numbers.”
“Oh, they are.” Karen hoisted herself onto a table and let her legs swing loose as she answered. “Governments all over the world have been sure to protect girls and women of childbearing age. Vast numbers of them are restricted to the enclaves and spend their lives having babies.”
“Babies whose only purpose in life is to have more babies if they are girls, or to work in Sun or government labor camps if they are boys,” Andy said.
“But you’re not doing that.” Sam looked around, then turned back to Andy. “You’re in school, doing ground-breaking work in science. Why aren’t you in a labor camp? Was your mother in one of those enclaves?”
“No, she wasn’t.” Andy shrugged. “The majority of the population went into enclaves after the first famines, and their descendants are rarely allowed to leave. But some people refused to enter them at the start, preferring to take their chances on their own. In my village, several families stayed behind and helped each other survive. Karen’s and Pete’s families were among them, as well as mine.”
Sam’s brow was still wrinkled and Sarah stared at him with her mouth open, obviously disturbed. So he tried to explain further. “Our leaders have molded it all into a system beneficial to them. The enclaves provide slaves, and the rest of us toe the line to stay free. Troublemakers, or those people who flunk out of school, are assigned to an enclave. They get a choice as to where, but not whether, to go.”
“At least half the rebels in the world are people who’ve escaped from enclaves,” Karen said.
“Moira is one of them.” Andy looked troubled. “That’s her story to tell, though.”
“I’ll talk to her later,” Ned said. “For now, I need an answer.” He pointed at Pete’s screen where a damaging document was displayed. “If Feldman’s working on blowing up NISS, how do we stop him?”
“What are the dates on the documents?” Karen asked.
“The oldest is dated six months ago,” Pete said. “The most recent was two weeks ago.” No indication if that’s all of them or not.”
Ned paced, his fingers drumming with restless energy against his leg. “I can’t contact the station until Arkady comes on duty in four hours. He can start searching for the explosives, but we need more information.” He stopped and turned to Pete. “Warner rides a neutrino detector. Her job has nothing to do with shipments to NISS. How’d she get this chip?”
“Ah, I believe I can answer that.” Pete spun his chair so he faced another computer, waving his fingers over the virtual display with furious speed. “I remember seeing something when we checked her out ... yes. Right here.” He jabbed the air and a photo appeared: a sharp man in the white and black uniform of a Sun soldier, the bill of his formal cap shading a freckled face and stern mouth. No personality dared shine through.
“William Warner, Captain.” Pete said. “Her big brother. Currently assigned to the Western Brigade in Galway.”
“Where shipments for NISS are loaded.” Ned paced behind Pete’s chair, his eyes on the photo.
Pete waved the photo away and flipped up a flow chart. “He’s in our files. A couple of our Galway operatives are acquainted with him. He’s provided Intel before, but he’s cautious about it.”
“Has he ever used his sister before?” Ned asked.
“Nope.”
“Uh ...” Andy half-raised a hand, not sure what the protocol was. Everyone turned to him, but it was Ned’s narrowed eyes that told him to finish what he started. He cleared his throat and tried to speak with more confidence than he felt. “Feldman’s had neutrino detectors on alert all over the world since March. It stands to reason that defense units would also be on alert. If Captain Warner knew about the neutrinos, he probably knew his sister was involved. Maybe he just wanted her to know that Feldman had another agenda.”
Everyone was silent as they thought about it. Ned nodded slowly. “Could be.” He slapped his hands together and swung on his heel to pin a challenging stare on Sam and Sarah. “As you said, people will die. This isn’t your world, but you’re here, and you have the means to save lives. Will you help us?”
The travelers exchanged a look. All Andy could see in their glance was worry, and maybe fear. But Sam nodded as they faced Ned. “Yes, we’ll help. But I’d like your promise for something when it’s over.”
Ned took a deep breath, as if holding back a shout of triumph. He spread his hands. “If it’s in my power.”
“Help us get the rest of our equipment from Feldman. And let us go home.”
“Mate,” Ned said, his voice deep with feeling, “we want a society where people are free to come and go, and live in peace. We’d never stop you from going home. But yes, I’ll do what I can about your equipment.”