The Deep Dark Well (21 page)

“Yes.  But I have
already thought of that.  No abnormalities were discovered.  My brain is still
operating to specification.”

“But did you try a scan
through a local computer access.  One that was free of a link to the central
system.”  She felt a pain in her temples at the thought, like what had been
described to her by others as an oncoming migraine.  But she had never had
migraines.  Why now?  And why linked to this thought.

“No.  I didn’t,” said
Watcher.  “I don’t know why I didn’t.  But we should be able to rig something
up that could do that.  What is your idea?”

“I’d rather not say
right now,” she said, rubbing her temples as the pain receded.  “I’m not even
really sure.  But I want to check out a hunch.”

*    *    *

“Admiral,” yelled the
science officer.  “We have indications of antimatter flares near the
Donut.
 
Two of them, one on top of the other.”

“Source?” asked Fleet
Admiral Nagara Krishnamurta, sitting his chair on the flag bridge of the
Kingdom of Surya flagship
Danaus
.

“Either a very powerful
antimatter warhead, or the rupture of a starship’s antimatter storage.  Most
probably the latter.”

“So they’ve stepped in
it now,” said the admiral with a smile.  “Too bad if it’s only a pair of them. 
But at least it makes our job a little easier.”

“Orders, admiral?”
asked the communications officer.

“Tell all ships to set
a course for the
Donut
,” he ordered.  “Maximum acceleration.  Turn over
to come to a dead stop at the source of those flares.

“I want sensors on
passive all the way in.  No use letting them know we’re coming at them until
they can pick us up on their own sensors.”

Within minutes the
great bulk of
Danaus
had shed the velocity on her current heading. 
Inertialess drives pushed the ship on a new course at thirty gees, heading,
Galactic Standard coordinates zero mark zero mark zero.

Chapter 12

What is the measure of
a man?  The measure of a man is mind.  And we have developed the ultimate mind.

Announcement of the
Watcher Project

“Dammit,” cursed Pandi
in a whisper.  This was the third time she had run the scan, and still the
results were negative.  She didn’t think it was the fault of the equipment.  It
was as fine as she could have imagined, better really, since she couldn’t have
imagined equipment that could harmlessly probe the brain down to the molecular
level.  But if the scan was correct, her theory was wrong.

Watcher sat calmly in
the chair, the flat panels of the sensor probes on either side of his head. 
His memories were played out on the holo to her front.  But nothing came up
that matched any of her keywords.  Vengeance was met with fuzzy images of what
Watcher must have imagined he was like.  But nothing solid.

She knew the theory of
multiple personality.  That some trauma had occurred that the mind could just not
handle.  So it created a separate personality, another being alive within the
same body.  And many times the personalities were not aware of each other, only
cognizant that there were periods of blackout when they couldn’t remember
anything.  But the personality had to reside somewhere, and the scanning
machinery should have been able to unearth it even if it wasn’t linked to the
consciousness now in control of the body.

But there was nothing
to indicate the being called Watcher was also the being called Vengeance.  Not
even on the molecular level. 

She again checked the
physical scan, marveling at the density of connections within Watcher's brain. 
The comparison scan to a normal human brain pointed out the differences.  More
neurons, twice as many connections in each neuron, as well as a larger physical
brain structure.  It almost had an overcrowded look, as if it was full and not
another connection could be made.  But Watcher had the ability to store new
memories.  Of that she was sure.

Her finger traced the
wiring of the implants, the connections that Watcher used to access the
computer.  It ran throughout every region of his brain.  Statistical analysis
indicated that the billions of nanobots in the brain were keeping the system at
peak efficiency.

Pandi brought up the
image of her own scan, the one she had performed on herself to check out the
equipment.  She had been certified healthy before her mission on the
Niven
. 
Of course the machine had found minor anomalies that the equipment of her time
could not have found.  But still healthy enough.  Her own implant was much
smaller than Watcher’s, only a tiny mass of metal in her Thalamic region. 
Watcher had told her she had the minimum implant needed by a citizen to contact
any regional computer complex.  She would not receive one such as his unless
she was granted greater access to the computer.  And if she requested such.

She still felt kind of
leery having the thing in her brain at all.  She was sure she didn’t want the
connections she had seen in Watcher’s brain, intruding into every part of her
mind.

"You can move
now," she told her subject.

"You didn’t find
what you expected?"

"It was only a
theory, but I thought Vengeance might actually reside within your mind."

"As if we were one
in the same," he said, his voice growling. 
Nobody would like to be
told they were their own worst enemy
, she thought.

"You know the
theory of multiple personality.  Well, you sounded like a perfect example.  But
this seems to prove that line of thought a dead end."

"So what's
next?"

"You keep me
around you," she answered.  "And let me know when you’re starting to
feel very fatigued.  I don’t want to let you out of my sight until you are
sound asleep."

*    *    *

"Debris consistent
with the remains of two capital class starships," said the computer, as
Pandi and Watcher looked at the holo display.  "Eleven of the vessels are
still at station holding at two point three billion kilometers from the perimeter
of the
Donut
."

"He, I mean
Vengeance, ordered the destruction of the two ships?" asked Watcher. 
Pandi smiled at him.  He was still trying to use the name of his nemesis in
normal conversation, dedemonizing him so to speak. 

"Vengeance ordered
the destruction of the two vessels, though he had tried to bring all of the
squadron closer."

"So now we have a
bunch of pissed off intruders sitting out there," said Pandi. 
"Pissed off intruders in warships."

"I don’t think
they could cause appreciable damage to the
Donut
," stated Watcher. 
"After all, the structure is made of superhard materials, beyond the
technology of those out there to reproduce."

"They could get
lucky."

"The female known
as Pandi is correct," said the computer.  "They possess both negative
matter and antimatter.  Both are capable of destroying the superhard materials
of the station shell."

"And Vengeance’s
final orders?"

"He ordered that
the ships were not allowed to come beyond the two billion kilometer
deadline," said the computer.  "Or I was to use the graviton beams on
any that dared to probe past it."

"I verify those
orders," said Watcher.  "But only one ship at a time.  If the rest
back off from another demonstration they are to be allowed to get away."

How different they both
are
,
thought Pandi.  Oh, Watcher would kill if needed, and would kill gladly to protect
himself.  In fact he had admitted as much to her.  She was the first intruder
in over a millennium that he had allowed on the station without killing.  But,
unlike Vengeance, he would only use the force necessary to keep intruders
away.  It was like they were figures of light and shadow.  Good and evil
personified, each the incarnation of one of the primal forces.  Yet they were
brothers.

"Now I would like
access to all of the records of the Watcher Project to be opened for the
perusal of my guest," he ordered.  "Pandi is to research my past, and
I want all information that she asks for to be released to her."

"All records,
Watcher?" said the computer.  "Are you sure you want her to learn
everything about you?  She might discover some weaknesses you don’t want
revealed."

   
"Everything," ordered Watcher.  "I’m only interested in one
weakness at this time.  And she might be able to help me correct that
flaw."

"As you wish.  You
may access the information at any of my terminals mistress."

"This terminal will
be fine," she said.

"Do you wish for
me to upgrade your implant?"

"Don’t you
dare," she hissed.  "I have all the implant I desire."

"Follow her orders
implicitly," ordered Watcher.  "As if they came from me."

"OK," said
Pandi, taking a seat in front of the holo, "let’s start with the start. 
Show me the records on the inception of the Watcher Project."

*    *    *

Worried men and women
gathered in the conference room aboard the flagship
Orca
.  Admiral
Miklas Gerasi looked over his staff members.  The too sharp images of holos
indicated those who were attending by electronic proxy, the captains and chief
tactical officers of his other vessels.  He was not fool enough to require
their physical presence while in the middle of hostile territory.  Their executive
officers were required to attend, along with the flag staff.

The central holo over
the table showed yet another probe being fired over the deadline.  Readouts
indicated distance to the deadline, running down quickly as the probe, encased
in the body of a standard long-range torpedo, accelerated at thousands of gees
toward its target, the great black hole at the center of the system.

"Zero," said
Commander Zaglas, the XO of the
Cachalot
.  The torpedo flared with
bright light as it disappeared into the sudden point source of gravity, then
exploded outward in a brighter flare as the compressed matter was released.

"That was one we
had already pinpointed," said the Chief Tactical Officer, Commander
Lemisa.

"So now they have
all fired at a probe at least three times," stated Gerasi.  "We can
be relatively sure they are not hiding anything."

"That would be my
analysis, sir," said Lemisa.  "Six of the bastards, all evenly spaced
in orbit a hundred million kilometers out from the
Donut
."

"Unless they have
some more of them, hidden among all the other stuff in orbit," said
Captain Valari Midas of the
Orca
.

"Do we know what
those other objects are yet?" asked the admiral.

"Yes sir,"
said Lemisa.  "Over a hundred of them are wormhole gates, deactivated,
damn the luck."

"You mean those
big square things?" asked one of the holo captains.  "The things
twelve kilometers on a side?"

"Yes sir,"
answered the chief tactical officer.  "Ship gates, for the passage of
large vessels between the stars, instantaneously."

"And the smaller
stations?" asked Midas.

"You mean smaller
in relation to the
Donut
?" said Lemisa.  The people around the
table chuckled for a moment.  The so called smaller stations. Fifty-eight
kilometers in length, were larger than the huge space habitats back at the home
worlds, and there were over a hundred of them in orbit around the
Donut
.

"Those appear to
be orbiting space docks, to handle the freight traffic that used to pass
through this system."

"Freight traffic
like this," continued the chief tactical officer, as the view in the holo
switched, showing a station with a group of long vessels attached by the noses
to its many docking arms.  Readouts below the ships gave the scale for those
who couldn’t judge such easily.  For those who could, the relationship of ships
to station was enough.

"Sixteen
kilometers!" said one of the captains.  The
Orca
and her sisters
were only 574 meters in length, the most massive interstellar capable objects
created by their civilization.

"And then we have
this," said Lemasi, the view moving out from the station, bringing another
vessel very similar to the others into sight.  Similar until one noticed the
differences in scale between it and the ships at the nearby station.

"This ship
measures over twenty eight kilometers from stem to stern," said Lemasi. 
"It could carry our entire fleet within its hold with room to spare.

"It seems that
these vessels were not interstellar capable," continued Lemasi, his laser
illuminator pointing to the long boom that attached the globe of an inertialess
drive to the wide body of the ship.  "The wormhole gates were the obvious
means of moving these vessels from system to system."

"But we can be
sure that this inertialess drive," said Admiral Gerasi, "is
magnitudes in advance of anything we have.  What would you guess, Lemasi?  A
hundred?  A thousand gees acceleration?"