No Direction Home (8 page)

A bit less ironic detachment and a lot more focus, please… This all looked ominously efficient – less than fifteen minutes into the coup and they were processing prisoners already.
Someone knew what they were doing. These orders must have been drawn up before they even left Earth.

He took that thought with him as the cell door swung shut behind him: New Dawn had been planning this for years. But why?

Vinter sat down on the bunk bed that, apart from a small sink and a water closet, was the only furniture in the cell, then, deliberately, swung his legs up onto the bed and lay back, forcing himself to carry out yoga relaxation techniques; there was no rush, after all. Not now.

Could I have foreseen it? Was there something I missed?
It was only when Ilona had made that call that he had seriously began to wonder what Ferreira was up to in One Delta – OK, the reason for what was effectively a quarantine was now blindingly obvious, but at the time, it had seemed simply part of a normal military obsession with secrecy for its own sake. Anyway, the simple fact was that he hadn't seen it coming and there was damn all he could do about it now.

So, again – why?

Because New Dawn wants to control the colony, that's why. They planted a hundred troops in the chambers earmarked for UN Peacekeepers – and that's the real reason why we had the Peacekeepers, of course…

Vinter recalled his ironic question when Lahtinen had revealed their existence –
Who were they intended to fight – green bug-eyed monsters or something?
No, they were there because New Dawn wanted them there – it simply hadn't made sense to have that many Peacekeepers on board, simply to keep order in a colony that had been carefully selected. But essential if you wanted to stage a coup, of course…

How deeply had the colony project been infiltrated?

They'd smuggled the troops on board, and, in all probability, at least some of their leaders as well – how many others in the Zombie Pits belonged to New Dawn? How many would you need to control a colony two thousand strong?

Actually, not that many, if you had the political leadership organised and with a hundred troops to back you up, the only military resistance would come from the UNSEC personnel – and they would be hopelessly outclassed and outnumbered; the most they could do would be to set up a resistance movement. In reality, most people's main pre-occupation on a new planet, stripped of most of the benefits of civilisation, would be simple survival, not fighting over politics.

And if they'd been brainwashed along the way to support New Dawn…
Not even UNSEC would be a problem. If they could turn soldiers into ruthless killers with Combat Conditioning, why not turn the colonists into New Dawn supporters? All they'd need to do would be to have simple propaganda messages drip fed into the colonists' heads for over three hundred years during cryosleep and you'd have two thousand converts at the other end… Even if only half of them were actually converted, you'd still hold the balance of power.

Was that why I felt this vague feeling of support for New Dawn when I was revived? Nothing too strong, but… Had I only had part of the brainwashing programme, so it hadn't taken full effect?

Could be… Could well be, actually.

But why now? Why not wait until PlanetFall?

Actually, that was obvious, he realised suddenly; that
had
been the original plan, but Stalker had changed everything. In the same way that the mysterious signals had meant reviving himself and the UNSEC team, so the mere presence of Stalker and its possible hostile intent had made reviving the troops necessary. Ferreira was probably having to improvise now – taking on a pursuing spaceship had not been part of the plan at all and nor was having an UNSEC unit that had not been properly brainwashed.

Which means that his next move might well be to get rid of us… I would, in his situation.

Shit.

So what were the ‘things I need to discuss with you' that Ferreira had mentioned on the bridge? What did Ferreira want of him?

Almost as if on cue, the cell door opened and Mardukian stood in the doorway. ‘On your feet – the Colonel wants you on the bridge.'

*****

It was as if Ferreira had not moved while Vinter had been taken to the cells; he was still standing in front of the Command Console where Vinter had last seen him – but at least Lahtinen's body had been removed, Vinter was glad to see.
Why hadn't Ferreira taken the captain's chair?
Vinter wondered idly, then the thought was pushed aside as Ferreira spoke.

‘I need you to deal with some UNSEC personnel who are holding out in Three Gamma,' Ferreira said without preamble.

‘I beg your pardon?'

‘Six of your UNSEC officers are resisting arrest. They're armed and have already killed three of my men. I want you to go and negotiate their surrender.'

‘Me?'

‘Yes, Vinter, you. With the death of Captain Lahtinen and his Executive Officer, you are now the senior ranking officer amongst the UN personnel – I understand you technically hold the rank of Major in the Peacekeeping Force.'

‘Yes, but it
is
only technical – I'm not in the military hierarchy at all.'

‘Vinter, we are wasting time. You are their commanding officer and I am instructing you to order them to surrender.'

‘What makes you think they're going to obey any orders I give them?'

‘Let me put it this way, Vinter. If you do not persuade them to surrender, then I will tell my men to go in there and wipe them out.' He fixed Vinter with a glare. ‘And they will be under Combat Conditioning not to take any prisoners.'

Bastard… the UNSECs wouldn't stand a chance. They might take one or two of Ferreira's men with them, but none of them would survive.

‘You're the ship's Security Officer, is that correct? Your job is to preserve security and to protect UN personnel, is it not? So do your job, Vinter. You're their only chance of survival, it's as simple as that.'

‘They were supposed to be picked up on a sweep through the barracks section,' the young lieutenant explained. ‘Someone must have tipped them off, because by the time we got there, they were armed and ready. They fell back to here, but they can't go any further. On the other hand, if we move beyond that corner there–' he nodded towards a side intersection to the left five metres ahead, ‘–we'll be picked off like flies.'

Vinter nodded. The side corridor led to Number Three Airlock, used to gain access to the outside hull for emergency repair work; it had probably never been used since they had passed a measurable fraction of lightspeed because of the risks involved of even a tiny speck of dust hitting a spacesuit at that kind of velocity. The six men had nowhere to go, but they could hold out for as long as they had ammunition if they chose. The problem was that all Ferreira needed to do was send in half a dozen men conditioned to ignore any risk to themselves and to take no prisoners and it would all be over in less than a minute…

‘Do you have any realtime image of them?'

The officer shook his head. ‘They shot out the corridor cam – and they do the same to any cam we poke around the corner.'

‘OK,' Vinter said quietly. ‘I'll see what I can do.' He moved forward to the corner of the intersection, nodding absently at the trooper who sidled back to let him in; he was still trying to figure out how the hell he was going to deal with this. But he had to try…

‘Listen up in there!' he called out. ‘This is Inspector Vinter, UNSEC senior officer. Who's in charge there?'

No answer; he didn't expect there would be – they probably wouldn't know his voice anyway, so he could be anyone as far as they were concerned.

Try again.
‘Look, you're outnumbered and you've got nowhere to go. You haven't a hope in hell – just throw out your weapons and surrender.'

‘And then? What's to stop you simply killing us anyway?'

‘You have my word they won't.'

‘Oh yeah? And whose side are you on, Inspector? If that's who you are, of course.'

Vinter sighed. ‘Look, the bastards have won – you're not going to find any reinforcements appearing out of nowhere to rescue you, if that's what you're holding out for.'

There was a pause, then the voice called out, ‘How do we know you're who you say you are?'

So at least they're thinking about it now – I might be able to get them out of this, after all.
‘Code seven nine four six hash five.'

Another, longer, pause, then: ‘We need visual ID confirmation, sir.'

In other words, they want to see my face
...
Fair enough.
‘OK. I'm coming out in three seconds.'

‘Understood.'

‘OK. Three–'

‘
Vinter
,' Ferreira's voice spoke in his earpiece and then said something else, but everything seemed to go out of focus – hearing, vision, even any sense of where he was, just a grey haze with muffled sounds and half glimpsed movements…
What the fuck?

‘Say again?' he asked, his voice sounding as though it came from a great distance.

Abruptly, his vision came back, razor sharp in its clarity, with numbers across its upper field –
a fucking Heads Up Display on my retinas – what the hell's going on?
– and suddenly he could read them, as if they had always been there; the figures related to heat sources and their distances. There was a sudden overwhelming surge of elation, as if until now he had only been sleeping and now he was fully awake, aware of his full potential. Not just awake – there was heightened awareness and utter confidence in his own ability…

In his ability to kill the six troopers.
There was a momentary sense of reluctance, instantly brushed aside by a heady sense of anticipation; now he could finally use his skills to the utmost, the skills that had lain dormant until now…
Yes!

‘Give me your weapon and a grenade,' he said to the man beside him.

‘What?'

‘
Give him what he wants.
' Ferreira's voice over the comm system. ‘
Leave it to him now.
'

The soldier hesitated, then with a visible shrug, he handed over the semi-automatic and a single grenade from his belt.

Distance to rear wall of corridor: ten point five seven metres, nearest target at eight point two seven… Go!

Vinter pivoted round, already throwing the grenade as he came into view of the UN troopers and firing from the hip as he sprinted forward in super-fast motion; for him, everything else seemed to slow down so that he could hear individual shots from the weapon, slamming into the first target as the grenade arced over the other man's head, bouncing off the bulkhead beyond as the second man went down, not a single shot fired back at him yet, swivelling the gun round to target three, seeing his gun almost in firing position, take a sideways step at the same moment as the soldier fired, feeling the wind of its passing as target three went down, his face a mass of blood as the grenade detonated, killing target six instantly and throwing target four forward as Vinter dived forward at the same instant as target five fired, the shells passing over Vinter, who squeezed the trigger while he was still going down, his shots ripping into target five's chest and shoulders, hurling him backwards as Vinter rolled to his feet and placed a final shot into target four who was still moving, feebly. Vinter swung slowly round, covering each motionless figure as their heat signatures began to decrease fractionally.

Yes! Got the fuckers, all of them! One hundred per cent fatalities…

Then Ferreira's voice said something over the comms and it all went away, the HUD, the elation, everything… Just the grey haze and muffled sounds… And a sense of something precious lost, of feeling stunted… reduced.

Merely human.

Vinter stared around, disbelievingly, at the bodies surrounding him…
What happened? Nobody could have moved as fast as that – nobody. Least of all me…

But he had…

Shit… What the hell have I done?

But he knew only too well – he could remember every second vividly… He had killed six armed men, single-handedly, in less than three seconds.

Just like that.

He turned around, slowly, to see the lieutenant and two of his men standing at the intersection – and with their weapons trained on him. They had fear in their eyes…

Can't say I blame them…
Carefully, he lowered his weapon to the floor, and backed slowly away from it, raising his hands.

‘Bring Vinter to the bridge
,' said Ferreira over the comm. ‘
He's no danger now
.
There's something I want to show him.
'

*****

‘What the fuck did you do to me?' Vinter demanded, pushing aside one of the bridge officers and striding angrily towards Ferreira. ‘What happened back there? They were about to surrender for Christ's sake–'

He was within six feet of Ferreira when the other man held up what looked like a remote control device and pressed a button on it; instantly, Vinter's body froze, went into a spasm of utter immobility. Because of his forwards momentum, he toppled to the ground, face first, unable even to put out his arms to break his fall –
I can't fucking move!
Desperately, he tried to move
well,
anything, his legs, a fingertip, anything…
But nothing happened.
That fucking device – that bastard controls me!

As if reading his thoughts, Ferreira said, ‘Not me, Vinter – that was your precious United Nations, with all their high and mighty morals and ethics –
they've
turned you into a killing machine. All I needed to do was give the trigger command – but
they
provided the hard-wiring. And, as you've probably guessed, I can still control you with this device. Your motor functions have been switched off, but I imagine you're aware of that. It's strictly temporary, though.'

Ferreira must have deactivated the device at that moment, because, suddenly, he could move.
And with no pins and needles, either… It must just be the motor muscles themselves that are affected, not the bloodstream…

And since when was I a biology expert?

Slowly, Vinter clambered to his feet, looking carefully around him, realising that the guards behind Ferreira still had their guns aimed at him.
Still scared of me?
He faced Ferreira, then said quietly, ‘What exactly have I had done to me?'

Ferreira hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘Come with me to my cabin.' He turned away, then paused as he saw Mardukian step forward. ‘It's all right, sergeant. He won't cause me any problems – not with this.' He held up the control device, then his eyes flickered back to Vinter. ‘That's right, isn't it, Inspector?'

Vinter grimaced, then nodded; he followed Ferreira off the bridge to what had once been Lahtinen's day cabin, noticing with a vague surprise that the image of the aircraft carrier was still there. Not that Ferreira had exactly had much time to change it, of course…

Ferreira nodded to Vinter to close the door, then sat down behind the desk, motioning Vinter into the seat in front. He placed the device ostentatiously on the desk, within easy reach of his right hand, then, to Vinter's surprise, rubbed his face tiredly with his left. ‘Right, Vinter. Let's move on – I really don't have a lot of time to spare on you at the moment, so… To answer your question, what has been done to you? A lot, believe me. For one thing, you really had no say in what happened back there. Once the trigger command is given, your augmentation hardwiring takes over.'

Vinter stared at Ferreira, aware that he had no idea why the conversation had started like this – or even why it was taking place at all.
What did he want?
‘Augmentation?'

‘Yes. You are, in effect, a super-warrior once that kicks in – stronger, faster, more rapid reflexes and reactions, implanted knowledge of armed and unarmed combat techniques, along with built in nano-technology that gives you that HUD and speeds up your consciousness to deal with your extra speed of thought and action. Everyone else appeared to be moving in slow motion, did they not? They were, compared to you.'

‘But – but they were about to surrender. There was no need…' His voice tailed off, then he nodded slowly in realisation. ‘You needed a demonstration, didn't you? I was going to be switched on, no matter what they did, wasn't I? Those poor sods were doomed, right from the start.'

‘Indeed. If it's any consolation, you had no choice in the matter, once I gave you the trigger phrase.'

Which I can't remember – for obvious reasons, I suppose…

‘So I'm just a killing machine once I receive that trigger signal?'

‘Yes. That is exactly what you are.'

‘So that's why you didn't want to kill me. I assume I
can
be killed?'

‘When you're not in Augmented Mode, you are just as vulnerable as any normal human being – rather fitter and with more physical strength and stamina than most, but still within normal human parameters. But in Augmented Mode – yes, you are nearly invulnerable.' He shrugged. ‘Of course, there are limits – the longer you are in Augmented Mode, the more you will feel the effects afterwards.'

‘Effects?'

‘Tiredness, then exhaustion. Your body is using far more energy than it is used to, even for someone who has had the necessary modifications. After thirty minutes at that level, you will be close to physical collapse once the Mode is switched off. After forty-five, you will probably be dead – completely burned out.'

‘Terrific…' Vinter said sourly. ‘And you control that Mode. You can switch it on and off at will.'

‘Yes, I can,' Ferreira said slowly. ‘You had better not forget that.'

‘I'm not likely to,' Vinter said, bitterly. ‘So what exactly do you have in mind for your new toy?'

‘You're anything but a toy, Vinter. You're our ace in the hole if it does indeed come to an armed confrontation with Stalker.'

Despite himself, Vinter burst out laughing. ‘Me? Are you serious?'

‘I am rarely anything else.'

Vinter shook his head, still chuckling. ‘Look, you know the military capabilities of this ship and its crew, don't you?'
Actually, so do I now,
he realised suddenly.
They've given me a more or less complete military training along with that Augmented Mode.
‘Basically, all we've got are infantry weapons, right? No artillery, no missiles, lasers or rail guns, nothing that will kill anybody at a distance, let alone destroy a starship. Do you honestly think that if Stalker has been sent out here to fight us that they won't know exactly what our capabilities are and will have made damn sure that they can outmatch us? They'll come armed to the teeth – and if they do have missiles or nukes, then do you really think I'm going to make any difference whatsoever? I'm not
that
good, am I? Ace in the hole? I don't think so.'

‘I think you might be surprised at your capabilities. As I said, even when you're not in Augmented Mode, you will still have reactions and strength above that of normal humans – you'd be a black belt in several different martial arts, for example.'

So that's why I thought I could take on four armed men – I probably could have done, as it turned out…
‘Very reassuring, but I still don't think that's going to be enough to stop a nuke, Colonel – do you? Honestly?' Vinter glared at Ferreira for several seconds, suddenly aware that Ferreira had already made these points to himself, that the other man knew damn well he was in a tight situation and was having to deal with it as best he could.