Spinneret (35 page)

Changing his direction, Hafner headed toward the tunnel entrance. Meredith, he knew, was currently in the tower … and Hafner suspected he'd welcome someone to talk to.

The same three-squiggle pattern showed up over eighty times in the main control room alone … and the pattern of lights and switches associated with it was more than a little suggestive.
All right,
Loretta thought, tapping at the fist-sized walkabout terminal of the Ctencri translator humming quietly off to one side.
Call this “on” or “active” or “functioning.” Correlate
… ?

She pushed the proper button and watched the translator screen list eight more combinations involving the three-letter pattern and their possible meanings.
Activate, standby
—
off? Ah
—
then that tilde would indicate inversion of meaning. Let's see where else the tilde shows up. …
Punching in the order, she was rewarded a moment later with an overhead schematic of the semicircular control panel, the tilded labels flashing in red. Referring occasionally to the picture, she walked slowly around the room, looking closely at each of the switches and indicators so identified. The next step would be to choose one or two of them and play through the data file of the last cable production again, watching for anything that might give a clue as to their function. Loretta hadn't done too well so far with that particular method; all the obvious correlations had long since been tabulated, and she lacked the engineers' knack of pulling seemingly unrelated sounds and activities into a coherent whole.

From underneath the control panel came a dribble of muttered Russian. A moment later, Victor Ermakov crawled stiffly out and unfolded into a standing position. “It is thoroughly ridiculous,” he grumbled, waving a multimeter for emphasis. “Half the circuits are inert, with no current flow and infinite resistance—and the other half show an absolutely
steady
current, with no discernible modulation. How do you control something with unchanging current?” He turned to Meredith, sitting quietly next to one of the Gorgon's Heads. “Colonel, the digger
is
still at work, isn't it?”

“It was as of five minutes ago,” the other said. “That's when it dumped its last load into the hopper.” He pointed to the blue section of the control panel beneath which Ermakov had been working. “I saw the pattern change.”

The Russian scowled at the board. “I'm beginning to think Arias is right, that the Spinners aren't using conventional electronics here at all.”

Loretta shrugged. Francisco Arias had tried to explain his theory to her, but his mastery of the more arcane branches of physics didn't include the ability to translate them into laymen's terms. All she'd taken away from the session had been a headache and the fact that too much of the Spinneret equipment was superconducting cable material for it to function along normal electronic lines. He'd then launched into something about subatomic forces and field waveguides that had lost her completely. “He
did
seem very sure of himself,” she commented.

“He always does.” Ermakov shook his head and turned again to Meredith. “Colonel, it's becoming clear that I'm going to have to literally invent the tools I need to study this equipment. Have you any data at all on the subatomic structure of the cable material, or on any general nuclear theory about the forces that may be involved?”

A thoughtful frown creased Meredith's forehead. “Possibly,” he said slowly. “But I'm not sure what kind of access I can let you have to it.”

For a scientist, Ermakov was an uncommonly good spy; Loretta had to give him that. His ears seemed to prick up at the mention of classified information, but his next comment was as casual and ingenuous as could be. “Well, it's your decision, of course,” he shrugged. “But the more insight I can get into the Spinners' science, the faster I'll be able to understand their engineering.”

“I'm aware of that.” From the ceiling came the hum of the elevator motor. Loretta glanced at her watch, noted that it was still an hour before the next supervisor was due to relieve Meredith. She looked back up to see the colonel get to his feet and walk around the elevator cylinder to where the door would appear. Unconsciously, her muscles tensed … but it was only the geologist/supervisor Dr. Hafner.

“Colonel,” Hafner greeted the other, nodding in turn to Loretta and Ermakov. “I wonder if I could talk to you for a moment? It's about a possible alternative to mass immigration.” Meredith shrugged. “Sure.”

Hafner launched into a description of something he was calling the new Marshall Plan; tuning him out, Loretta turned back to the control board.
All right: tilde means negation. Then on the digger board this might mean “empty hopper”; then
—
let's see: does this sequence show up anywhere else—?

“I trust you're doing better than I am,” Ermakov murmured from beside her. He had his multimeter on the edge of the control panel and was busily switching around the probe leads. “Incidentally, I wonder if I could borrow your tape player and some of your tapes this evening.”

Loretta's throat tightened, and she had to consciously force the muscles to relax. The tape player was her clandestine radio link to the UN ship overhead, the necessary electronics for transmission and scrambling concealed inside the plastic covers of two of the cassettes. “I suppose so,” she said, trying to match his casual tone and wondering what had happened to his own radio.

“Thank you. I've been talking about music lately with Major Dunlop and he expressed a wish to listen to some Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. I'll come by your apartment when we're through here and pick it up for delivery to him.”

“Fine,” she said through stiff lips. Dunlop. The officer the UN people said had fired stunners at a group of workers in Ceres and been severely reprimanded by Meredith for his actions. A man she remembered being described as a vain, hard-nosed type who preferred gunboat to all other forms of diplomacy.

And Ermakov was about to lend him her radio.

The Russian completed his adjustments and disappeared again beneath the control panel. Loretta moved away, staring at the gaudy Spinner colors without really seeing them. She hadn't even realized Ermakov and Dunlop had been talking together, let alone planning … what? What could the two of them have cooked up that Dunlop needed to talk to the UN ship about? The scientists' mission here was supposed to be the strictly passive acquisition of Spinneret data … unless Ermakov had special instructions she was unaware of. A sudden dread hit her between the shoulder blades and she glanced behind her, half expecting to see that Meredith had put such an obvious two and two together and was summoning soldiers to arrest her for espionage.

But the colonel was still talking with Hafner, apparently oblivious to both Ermakov's scheming and her own associated guilt. Weak-kneed with relief, she turned back and resumed punching in computer commands with shaky ringers.

Ermakov didn't bring up the subject again, and as they were leaving the cavern four hours later, she permitted herself to hope that he'd either forgotten his request or changed his plans. But as she walked past the tunnel guards and out into the early-evening gloom he quietly fell into step with her; and a few minutes later he left her apartment with the player tucked under his arm.

Loretta watched him go, then closed and locked her door behind him. She considered dinner, decided she'd lost her appetite, and lay down on the couch with a book instead. But her mind refused to concentrate, and eventually she gave up and went to bed. Two or three hours later, she managed to fall asleep.

And five hours after that, a group of soldiers led by Major Dunlop overpowered the guards at the tunnel entrance and took control of the Spinner cavern.

“… C
ALL ON ALL LOYAL
citizens of the United States of America to join us in reversing this clear and heinous act of treason that Colonel Meredith has committed,” Dunlop's voice came through the phone speaker, its imperious tone masked somewhat by the dull roar of vehicles behind it. “Those who do not will share the massive guilt and the punishment—”

“Enough,” Meredith barked, slipping on his jacket and sitting down on his bed to fasten his boots.

At the other end of the connection Lieutenant Andrews shut off the recording, and Dunlop's harangue vanished in midadjective. “Went out over the whole PA system, you said?” Meredith growled.

“Plus the civilian phone net,” Andrews said. “Apparently decided he already had all the soldiers that were on his side.”

“I hope so—I like having all my enemies bunched together in one place. Any idea how many there are?”

“The guards on duty at the time were all stunned, but I saw at least one truck go in after the dead-man alarm went off, so there could be forty or more of them plus a fair supply of materiel. They're only about ten minutes ahead of us, though, and I've got a team ready to go after them as soon as the demolitions men can get the other truck out of the way.”

“Tell them to go easy on that thing,” Meredith snapped. “I doubt even a nuke could bother the tunnel, but if Dunlop wasn't lying about the size of the bomb in there it'll kill everyone in the area if it goes off.”

“I know, sir.” Andrews sounded simultaneously miserable and furious. “We're getting people clear as fast as we can, but—well, there are a lot of civilians among them.”

Who move slowly and ask unnecessary questions and otherwise waste time,
Meredith thought bitterly. “Well … don't let it get to you. There's not a lot Dunlop can do in there except dig in and prepare for a siege. There isn't anyone at the op cent or in the tower, is there?”

“We don't think so, sir, but we don't know for sure. Again, the guards are unconscious, and they could have passed someone through—”

He was interrupted by the high-pitched squeal of the emergency breaker. “Colonel, this is Major Barrier. Dr. Hafner's not in his quarters. No evidence of any struggle, but his phone is still here.”

Meredith felt something icy trickle down his spine. “Check on Perez and Nichols immediately,” he told Barner. If Dunlop had barricaded himself in there with three of the Spinneret's five supervisors—

But it wasn't quite that bad. “They've already reported in,” Barner said. “Heard Dunlop's broadcast and called to find out what was going on. I told them both to stay put till I could get them escorts.”

“Good.” Not as bad as he'd feared, but bad enough. With Hafner as a hostage, Dunlop's options were no longer limited to digging in near the cavern entrance. The entire cavern, tower included, was open to him now. “Major, I want you to take charge of clearing out the area around the tunnel and then stay clear yourself. Andrews, start a full ID check—I want to know exactly who Dunlop's got in there with him. Feed the list through to Carmen Olivero at the admin complex here—I'll let her know it's coming. Also, have the demolitions crew slow down. We're not going to catch Dunlop before he's had time to deploy his men anyway, and I don't want them cutting corners and blowing themselves into orbit.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Keep me informed; I'll be there in a while.” Breaking the connection, Meredith snatched up his gunbelt and hurried outside. The eastern sky was showing a faint glow now; stopping momentarily, he punched Carmen's number onto his phone before continuing his jog toward his office.

She answered on the first ring. “I heard the announcement,” she said after Meredith had identified himself. “I figured it'd be better to wait until you called instead of bothering you with questions.”

“Good thinking. How fast can you get to your office?”

“Thirty seconds; I just came through the front door. You want me to alert the Whissst and Orspham?”

Silently, Meredith blessed her quick mind. “Yes, but don't tell them anything except that the UN ship is not to launch any shuttles or come in closer itself. I don't have any proof yet, but this stinks of collusion and I don't want Msuya's people available to reinforce Dunlop's play. Then run a check of our military personnel and see if anyone's had counterterrorist or hostage-rescue training or experience.”

“Hostage rescue?”

He grimaced. “Yes. We think they took Dr. Hafner in with them.”

There was no startled gasp or exclamation … but when Carmen spoke again, her words were packed in ice. “Understood, Colonel. How many commando teams will you want formed?”

“Two, possibly three. I'll be there before you get that far, though.” He hesitated. “Don't worry; Hafner's worth an incredible amount to them alive and nothing at all dead. Even Dunlop wouldn't be stupid enough to hurt him.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied in that same cold voice. “I'll expect you soon, then.”

Breaking the connection, Meredith increased his pace, swearing gently under his breath.
If you're behind this, Msuya,
he thought toward the sky,
you and the whole UN are going to pay a heavy price. Count on it.

What Hafner didn't know about Ctencri stunners would have filled several volumes … but as he lay limply on the ground with his eyes closed he concluded his captors didn't know a whole lot more. Whether they'd misjudged the setting or merely grazed him with the beam he didn't know; but from his lack of restraints it seemed clear they thought he should still be unconscious. All around him he could hear footsteps and muttered commands and the clink of metal on metal as they rushed around building something.
Where
he was was no problem to figure out—only the Spinner cavern had that particular combination of odors and shifting winds. Probably near the op cent, he tentatively concluded, as occasional echoes from the entrance tunnel reached his ears.

It was the events occurring a bare meter away, though, that he found the most interesting.