INTERVENTION (13 page)

  
“On the contrary; these people are as much human as you or I; the aliens found that they could replace certain chromosomes in the fertile ovum of human females that would perfectly mimic the ones they had replaced, and so be undetectable. Later, this altered cell would dominate brain function. These implants contained all the data necessary for these people to fulfil their task, which was to gain positions whereby they could jeopardise any mission.”

  
“But that means the aliens would need to be here permanently re-administering these implants to each new generation; where would they conceal themselves for hundreds of years? I’m sure you people would have sniffed them out long ago; from what we’re led to believe Agents can track a fart in the North wind.”

  
Andretta grinned at the analogy. “It wasn’t necessary for them to stay, as the gene that carries the implants is passed on from Mother to Daughter; no male offspring are ever produced and the parent can have only one child; this was a safeguard built into the gene to diminish the problem of re-population.”

  
“So how many are there?

  
“We estimate around fifty per continent.”

  
“Jesus; if you know how many there are then you must know where they are, so how come you haven’t arrested them?”

  
“We know only of a few that are active at this time, and if we were to move in on them it would alert the others as they seem to have the ability to sense each other over long distances.”

  
“But all this information, you couldn’t have got it all from old stories.” Said Miles.

  
“No, you are quite right, we have our interrogational and surveillance methods; but you don’t really want to go into that.”

  
“Okay, so how are you going to stop her from destroying this craft? Or are you relying on my assistance? Is that the reason why you confided in me in the first place?”

  
Andretta nodded slowly and released a half smile, “How very astute of you Leading Engineering Officer Miles, you really have missed your vocation; yes, I have been        

courting your alliance, after all who knows when I may need another pair of hands in
order to complete my mission? As for ‘destroying the vessel’, that is not the way these people operate. The prime objective seems to be to disrupt the mission in such a manner that it will be aborted but in a way that does not point to sabotage; deaths have occurred yes, but only when no other option was available.”

  
“How reassuring, to know that Duarte may or may not kill us.” said Miles, sardonically. 

  
Andretta leaned back in her seat; her face suddenly a mask; her eyes once more piercing black icicles. “Why Leading Officer Duarte?” She asked, softly.

  
Miles realised he had opened the conversation to a point that he had meant to avoid; his mind raced trying to find the words to alter the course but Andretta’s cold stare froze him. And now she was leaning forward again, her hands clasped together as though she held him in her grip, resting her arms on the table.

  
Right now he didn’t want to be here, and he didn’t want to hear the next question; the intensity of her gaze convinced him that lying was not an option; her eyes seemed to be boring straight into his brain. If she discovered that they had interfered with her target she could kill them all with impunity, and Miles didn’t want to die out here. 

  
After what seemed like an age, but in fact was only a couple of seconds, Andretta said, calmly, “Please, take a glass of water, you appear to be overheating.” 

  
Miles reached for the glass, grateful for the respite. He drank slowly in order to stall and gather his thoughts,
Where the hell where the others? They should be in here now, confronting her.

  
As though reading his mind Andretta looked around at the almost empty galley and said “I wonder where everyone is.” 

   Leaning back again Andretta
smiled as Miles put down the now empty glass and then she asked “Better?”

  
Feeling a little sheepish Miles replied “Yes, thank you.”

  
“No problem, you just seemed a little peaky, why Duarte?”

  
Jesus, the woman was like a dog with a bloody bone.

  
“I don’t know really.” He began, glancing down at the table to avoid her ever present gaze, but knowing that she was mentally climbing all over him and knowing he could do nothing about it. 

  
“I’ve given it a lot of thought lately” He offered “And everything seems to point to Duarte; I believe it is her.” Looking directly at the Agent he asked, “Am I right?”

  
“Leading Officer, we feeble humans go through life learning from, and about, other feeble humans; we watch and we listen, and then we make judgements; these judgements sometimes then become belief. The flaw in belief, however, is that we never really see or hear everything. I repeat, the target is female with one female child, and that is all the information I shall reveal to you.”

  
While Miles was still trying to come to terms with this last statement Rachmel stepped into the galley, followed by Coles and Hidson. Taking a seat at the next table, Rachmel said “And I have secured your ‘female with one female child’; she is now in hibernation status and shall remain there until we arrive back at base.”

   Andretta turned to face
Rachmel, the black pools of her eyes shining, piercing; the Commander could already sense the impending finality of that stare; she had chosen to parry with death itself; her choice. 

  
The Agent responded as though reading out a declaration of arrest, “Commander, it is illegal to place someone in hibernation against their will; I have the capacity and the right to arrest you and to relieve you of your command unless you can prove valid cause for your action. Make no mistake, this is a serious charge, one for which you could forfeit your life; I strongly urge you to consider your words well before responding.” 

  
Miles rose in angry defence of his friend. “No one’s getting arrested, and no one’s getting killed; there are four of us and only one of you.”

  
Andretta looked up at the man; her eyes appeared to have darkened even more; her face was an expressionless mask and when she spoke it was in a calm and clear voice, but the undertone of menace was not lost on those present.

  
“Leading Officer, we are in deep space, where are you going to get help?”

   Rachmel knew she was right;
even with the two men present; the four of them were no match against an Agent.

   “Miles, please sit down;
nothing is going to happen here today.” She said.

  
To Andretta, she replied “Look, I have the safety of this mission to consider; and from the evidence provided by yourself and my own personal deductions I judged Leading Physics Officer Duarte to be a possible threat to the wellbeing of everyone on board, and further believe I have taken reasonable and justifiable action to ensure safety to all, including Duarte herself.

“
Her hibernation unit is on manual function and I alone have the code; it is my intention to re-state her on our return to base.”

  
Andretta had sat impassively listening to this and now she asked “And have you logged this action, Commander?”

  
Rachmel could only stare back in hollow defiance; she had not logged the incident because she had no definite proof of Duarte’s guilt, only supposition; but her gut feeling said she was correct and she would not release the one person who could kill them all; suddenly she had nothing further to say.

  
“I see,” said Andretta, “and have you all arrived at the same conclusion?” Looking to each for a reply.

  
Before anyone else could speak Rachmel responded “No, this was my decision and my responsibility alone.”

  
Addressing Rachmel once more the Agent said “I admire your loyalty to your crew Commander, but aiding you in this abduction has tainted them; however, since we shall all be in hibernation tomorrow, I shall forego your arrest until our return; but when we arrive at base you shall be arrested and dealt with by another Agent. I shall be a witness against you in this matter; in exchange for your fullest co-operation I will not press a charge against your crew, do you agree Commander?”

  
Rachmel knew she had no option but to comply; and anyway it was a long way home.

  
“I agree.”

  
“Very well” Said Andretta, “And Commander…”

  
“Yes,”

   Leaning forward once more for emphasis,
Andretta said, without emotion, “Should you attempt to escape this charge in any way I shall terminate your life immediately.”

  
Rachmel said solemnly, “I won’t be going anywhere.”

  
“No Commander, you will not.”

  
Rising to leave, Andretta looked across to Miles who was still standing. Seeing the intensity of her gaze the engineer was minded of the phrase ‘The hunter hunted’ and in those few short moments the space between them seemed to be charged with a dark severity that he had never felt before from any human being. He knew now that if they were to do anything about this woman the time would have to wait until they were at the other end of the wormhole; and it would need to be an opportunistic accident, a planned ambush was clearly out of the question.

  
In a quietly measured tone Andretta informed him, “Due to the unforeseen change of atmosphere between us I feel it would be imprudent of me to allow you to operate ‘closedown’ as we discussed earlier; therefore, I shall be operating it myself, do you understand?”

  
“Yes”

  
“And Leading Officer, don’t ever again attempt to threaten an Agent; next time you will not be so fortunate.”

  
Miles knew this was no empty threat, for the Agent had the right and the ability to execute him on the spot and he had to force himself to maintain a calm exterior that belied the turmoil going on inside.

  
Leaving the galley Andretta made her way back to her quarters.

  
Sitting back down Miles stared at the table in front of him; a frown on his face.

   “What’s wrong with you?
” asked Rachmel, “Never been threatened by a woman before?”

  
Miles looked up and shook his head, “No, it isn’t that, it’s something she said earlier; something whispering to me; something important, but I can’t think what it was; she was telling me the history of her mission and there was something in there that just didn’t sit right.”

  
“Then tell us the history, maybe it will come back to you.”

Next day most were in their quarters resting; the approach zone was nearing and MAC would soon be advising everyone to make their way to the bio-hibernation section. 

  
Miles was sitting at his desk with pilot Hidson and together they were going over the plan he had been hatching since the incident in the galley; he had summoned Hidson in the hope that the two of them might find a way to overpower Andretta and place her in manually timed hibernation, as they had Duarte.

  
Hidson was deeply concerned, he had been in the service for many years and although he had never personally had dealings with the Agency he knew of people that had, and the one common factor in all cases was that the Bureau always came out the victor. On the rare occasion when someone, usually by accident but sometimes by design, had killed an Administrator another one had quickly appeared as though from nowhere, thus gaining the tag ‘Ghost’, and had completed the mission, with death and the seizure of his or her family’s properties being the outcome for the perpetrator.

  
The pilot voiced his concern, “I’m not worried about being killed but I do have a family to consider as you do; I’m not prepared to put them at risk by killing an Agent.” 

  
“But we don’t have to kill her; we can just contain her until mission end.”

  
“And then what? Just the act of abduction is a death sentence, the moment she comes out of hibernation we’re finished.”

  
“But we don’t know the conditions awaiting us the other side of the wormhole; anything might happen to someone wondering about on their own, especially when they’ve had a shot of something from the Med-centre.”

  
Hidson asked, incredulously, “You think you’re going to get close enough to give her a shot?”

  
Miles grinned mischievously, “No, but you can lover boy.”

  
Hidson stared back unbelievingly at the Engineer. “You can’t be serious; with an Agent? Andretta? You’ve got to be joking; anyway I’m a happily married man, with a family.”