Aneka Jansen 5: The Greatest Heights of Honour (22 page)

‘Drake was right though, they’ve got bolder.’

‘Yeah. Not a good thing necessarily.’

‘Huh. I’ve got no idea what “Gobari” is and I can see that.’

Tristar Township, 11.6.529 FSC.

‘FSA Director Admiral Jason Pierce called for calm today at a press conference with Senator Jackson Elroy. Continued reports of Herosian ships in systems throughout the border region and deeper into Jenlay space have resulted in panicked exodus from a few systems.’

The news reporter droned on from Gillian’s wall screen, watched largely by Bashford and Aneka. Gillian and Ella had both decided that watching history unfold was becoming a lot less exciting than studying it in retrospect.

‘Admiral Pierce stated that all reports were taken seriously and analysed by a joint team of Navy and FSA analysts. To date, none of the sightings has carried sufficient validity to warrant further investigation.’

‘No one’s going to see their scout ships,’ Bashford commented, ‘even if they
are
sending them out.’

‘And I’m happy no one’s figured that one out,’ Aneka replied. ‘Can you imagine the panic if they think
invisible
spy ships are scouting out targets?’

‘You have a point.’

‘I’m just waiting for the other rumours to start.’

Bashford turned to her, frowning. ‘Other rumours?’

Yorkbridge Mid-town, 12.6.529 FSC.

‘You know,’ Bashford said from the wall screen, ‘if I didn’t know better I’d think you were running this entire business.’

‘You saw the news then?’ Aneka asked, already knowing the answer.

‘Two businesses attacked because they used to work with Herosian shipping agents, and the Peacekeepers are saying that there has been a rise in accusations that people’s neighbours are spies. Do you have a playbook for this stuff?’

‘I studied early twentieth-century history in school, and obviously it was a personal interest. If you’re going to fight in a war it’s a good idea to know about the past ones.’

‘It’s a shame some of our officers don’t seem to think the same way,’ Gillian put in.

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The camera crew waiting outside their apartment block was unexpected. Aneka did not recognise the reporter, or the station logo, but the small team of three seemed determined to talk to her and Aneka waived Ella back inside before frowning at the man in the grey suit who seemed to be the correspondent.

‘Watkis Mallroy,’ the man introduced himself, ‘of Front Line News.’

‘They were recently incorporated,’ Al supplied. ‘They appear to be someone’s idea of a way to make money by exclusively covering material related to the war.’

‘Oh,’ Aneka replied, ‘swell.’ Aloud she said, ‘Mister Mallroy, what can I do for you?’

Mallroy glanced at his cameraman, got a nod, and turned back to Aneka, becoming all business. Aneka stopped her eyes narrowing; the little bastard was up to something.

‘Miss Jansen, you’ve been accused of aiding the Herosians following your saving of the Herosian Ambassador’s life…’

‘Accused by whom?’ Aneka interrupted. ‘First I’ve heard of it.’

Mallroy’s expression faltered for a fraction of a second. Indecision, surprise; he had not expected that response, and he had not expected her to remain calm about it anyway.

‘I have a reliable source who…’

Aneka smiled. ‘You got a tip, you don’t know who from, that the FSA was investigating me. The FSA has investigated me at the molecular level, Mister Mallroy, long before this started. The idea that I’d be working for the Herosians is so funny I can’t find it in me to laugh, but that’s really not the point…’ She looked directly into the camera before going on. ‘The point you can quote me on, and please do, is that this kind of thing is
exactly
what the Herosians want. People are sitting in their homes thinking, “I always said Mister Smith next door was weird, and he keeps playing his music too loud, he must be a Herosian spy.” So they report him to the Peacekeepers and people who should be finding
real
spies have to go look. It wastes time and resources, and it breeds paranoia. You’re all intelligent people, stop fucking about! Now get out of my face before I have you arrested for false accusation.’

~~~

‘We tracked his “anonymous source” down to a rather sloppy ex-Humanity First member,’ Truelove explained over the wall screen. ‘He’s under arrest. He was screaming that you murdered Charles Hunter and had to pay when they dragged him off.’

‘Not actually a Herosian agent then,’ Ella said.

‘We’ve had to investigate every claim,’ Truelove replied, ‘and every claimant. It’s fucking irritating. So far we’ve had nothing come of any of it.’

‘Of course not,’ Aneka replied. ‘Like I said to Mallroy, this isn’t about anything the Herosians have to do, this is about the Jenlay sabotaging themselves.’

‘Yes well, Front Line weren’t going to use the interview, but we confiscated the recording and, oddly, it leaked. Elroy said to say that’s another one he owes you, though I’m not sure what the first one was. He wouldn’t be allowed to go on record saying the Jenlay were acting like a bunch of shazi.’

‘Not a politically astute move, no. I don’t think me growling at a camera is going to help that…’

‘There’s been a five per cent drop in false accusations since this morning,’ Truelove interrupted. ‘Not statistically valid, I’ll grant you, but even that will take some of the pressure off and the video hasn’t gone viral… yet.’

Aneka thought about the Winters scattered around the city, all specialists in information management. ‘I’m pretty sure it will,’ she said.

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‘Torem Ambassador Adjaxis was unavailable for comment today as the Jenlay delegation in Torem space announced the results of their meeting with the Torem Administration.’ The presenter on CFM was trying to keep her smiling demeanour going, but having increasingly more trouble. ‘The Torem are refusing to become involved in any conflict with the Herosians, citing the species survival clause in the Mutual Protection Agreement as their reason for backing out.’

‘This is going to come back to bite them,’ Aneka commented.

‘Well, it could take years before the Herosians finish with us, right?’ Ella replied. ‘That gives the Torem time to either leave or build their defences.’

‘It’s a viable strategy, sure, but I think they’ll find themselves suffering before then.’

‘I’m not sure how. I mean, if they’re refusing to help we can’t force them to change their mind. There’s nothing anyone can do about it.’

‘Someone will think of something to do, even if it isn’t useful.’

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‘Well…’ Ella said, staring at the muted screen. ‘Well, you called it.’

‘Somehow my sudden status as prophet gives me no comfort.’

CFM had just played an Administration announcement that all Torem living in Jenlay controlled space were to be restricted to their homes or enclaves. The Torem residents on New Earth were being moved to the enclave on Corax. Businesses were being closed down. All Herosians and Torem who needed to travel had to clear it with the Administration, a process expected to take several days.

‘I hope Tosimna’s okay,’ Ella went on. ‘I don’t even know if she’s still on Corax.’

‘Al?’ Aneka asked silently.

‘Tosimna returned to the Floating University late last year,’ Al replied.

‘She went home last year,’ Aneka said aloud. ‘She’s safe.’

‘Good,’ Ella replied, and then she was silent for a while. ‘It’s all going wrong, isn’t it?’ she finally said.

‘Yes. And I think it’s going to take something pretty amazing to fix it.’

‘Yeah… Well, we could always move to Old Earth.’

‘Huh. Maybe just a summer home there. I prefer the winters here.’

‘Uh, we don’t really have seasons…’

‘Precisely my point.’

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‘Secure, private message, marked as urgent, has been received for Aneka Jansen,’ the apartment’s computer announced. Aneka had tried tinkering with the settings, but the rather happy tone of the declaration still was not working to impel her to action.

‘Al, could you get that?’

‘I can… It is a message from Winter. Xinti encryption protocol… One of several created on Negral after the Xinti ended themselves.’

‘Winter normally uses her own encryption algorithms.’

‘Yes, she does. Shall I display it? It’s text only.’

‘Show me.’

A window appeared in her vision field and the message scrolled through it as she read.

Aneka, I hope this finds you well. Stupid thing to say, you are always optimal. I have an urgent request, and one which may prove difficult given the current state of things in Jenlay space. Yes, I am monitoring events. This message has attached coordinates. I need you to get there as soon as you can. We may have a way of stopping this war while it’s still not too bad, but it will require you to pull it off. I suggest bringing the Garnet Hyde and its crew, and Abraham Wallace and Cassandra. If possible, see if you can persuade Abigail Linden to come. Tell them all that it will be well worth their while. I know that’s cryptic, but in this case I’m working under orders. Winter.

‘Who gives orders to Winter?’ Aneka mused.

‘I suspect we will discover the answer to that if we do as she suggests.’

‘Right… So she wants me to get the Hyde, its crew plus extras including the Old Earth ambassador, and spirit them out of the system without anyone noticing. Not difficult at all.’

‘Given your talents, I’m sure you can come up with something.’

‘Huh, right.’ Aloud she called out, ‘Ella? We have a problem. Get your butt out of bed!’

Tristar Township.

Aneka stood in front of the wall screen in Gillian’s lounge with everyone on Winter’s list except Abby, plus Truelove and Justine arranged around her. It was starting to get a little cramped, and Gillian had a large lounge. They were looking at her as though she had gone funny, except for Ella and Justine.

‘I know this sounds crazy…’ she said.

‘I’m still processing the idea that Winter is an AI,’ Wallace responded. ‘When that has gone through, I’m sure I’ll be able to make an assessment of your mental state.’

‘Your mind works quite fast,’ Cassandra said, ‘for an organic. You’ll get there quickly enough. I am quite sure that Aneka is sane, my concern is regarding the accomplishment of this operation.’

Drake nodded. ‘If Winter says it’s important, then we go, but it’s not going to be easy. The Navy is restricting non-essential travel. We don’t have a reason to leave the system in the Hyde, and that’s without having Abby aboard.’

‘They’ve changed the regulations on flight plans,’ Shannon explained. ‘We would need to put in a request and wait,
and
have a reason to go. There would have to be a full crew manifest, and we’ve no reason for having Doctor Wallace aboard. I don’t see how we can do it.’

‘That’s why I got everyone here,’ Aneka said. ‘I figured that, between us, we might be able to figure something out.’

Bashford was looking thoughtful and Gillian picked up on it. ‘Bash, you’ve got the look you get when you’re plotting. It’s the same one you got when you sprang that surprise…’

‘I do have an idea,’ Bash said, a little too quickly. Aneka’s infrared overlay detected the increased blood flow in his cheeks, but there was no time to discover whatever embarrassing secret he was concealing. ‘That C-and-C ship they’ve built, the Argus, it’s brand new, right?’

Aneka nodded. ‘Deployed right out of the shipyard.’

‘So they haven’t fully tested it.’

‘I doubt it.’

‘So what if they wanted to run an operational test of the signal jamming systems, and Abraham agreed to assist in the spectrum coverage analysis? Of course, they would need a ship with a full scientific sensor array to do that analysis…’

‘You see?’ Gillian said. ‘He’s not just a gorgeous piece of man meat. There’s a brain in there too.’

Bashford went redder. ‘Man meat?’ he muttered.

‘That means I need the Old Earth fleet on the team,’ Aneka said. ‘I guess I’d better hop a shuttle. Elaine, can you work out how we would get authorisation to do a test like that? Bash, you
are
a gorgeous hunk of man meat, and don’t you forget it.’

BC-101 Hand of God.

It was getting late by the time Aneka made it up to the cruiser, but Abby and Tasker were happy to meet with her in the office Abby was using. They were less happy about the story she had to tell.

‘You really think this AI, Winter, has some means of stopping the war?’ Tasker asked.

‘If she says she does, then she believes it,’ Aneka replied. ‘Whether it’s fast enough is another matter, and I don’t know why she wants Abby along.’

Abby shrugged. ‘That seems obvious.’

‘It does?’

‘I’m a diplomat from Old Earth. Actually I’m
the
diplomat from Old Earth. She wants me to do something diplomatic.’

‘Yeah, but who does she want you to be diplomatic
with?
’

‘I guess we’ll find out when we get there.’

‘You’re going? Just like that?’

‘I’ve done everything I can here. The Argus has a very capable staff of administrators who can handle liaison. I’ll brief them and go on to the next job.’

‘There are going to be a lot of questions,’ Tasker pointed out. ‘The Administration and the Navy are going to scream like cats in heat.’

‘Yes,’ Abby said, ‘and that’s why we’re going to rope Senator Elroy in on this little conspiracy.’

‘We are?’ Aneka asked, her eyes widening.

‘Yes. Not the details, but enough to convince him. Then he can just state that you’re operating under his authority. If he explained it before we left there would be too many questions and a chance the Herosians would find out. After the fact there’s nothing anyone can do anyway. Leave him to me. I’ll get him on side.’

‘I love working with intelligent people,’ Aneka said, grinning.

‘Where is it you’re going?’ Tasker asked.

‘It’s actually closer to Earth, your Earth, than it is to here,’ Aneka replied. ‘The Federation designation is G-Two-Six-Eight. It doesn’t have a name.’