‘’Thank you, Miss Zuma.’’ Replied Mavutu, smiling warmly, before leaving her to return to his own office.
22:50 (Seattle Time)
Apartment building in Seattle
Pacific Coast of North America
‘’Kevin, dammit, get away from the windows!’’
‘’But, Mom,’’ protested the eight year-old boy to his mother, who was huddling in a far corner of the darkened family lounge with her two other children, ‘’they can’t see me with our apartment left in the dark.’’
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‘’But if they see you, they could shoot at you. Come back here, now! You saw what happened to those who did not obey their curfew orders.’’
‘’They won’t see me, Mom, I tell…’’
A blinding ray of blue light outside suddenly lit up the whole apartment at the same time as an incredibly loud cracking noise shook the windows, making the small boy and his family jump from fright and surprise. A second blue lightning bolt followed the first after three seconds, followed by a third one. To her mother’s utter frustration and fear, the little boy stuck his head again above the window sill, then shouted excitedly.
‘’MOM! MOM! COME SEE THAT! THE TRUCKS OF THE SOLDIERS ARE
BURNING NOW.’’
At first, the mother didn’t know if she should scream at her boy or go see. The dancing lights of flames coming from street level finally decided her to go to the window, where her first move was to forcibly pull down her son and wiggle an index at him.
‘’Kevin, I should spank you for this! Next time, you better listen to me at once.
This is not a game.’’
Only then did the mother dare look cautiously through the window, towards the ISF
check point where two civilian cars had been stopped earlier and their occupants summarily executed for having broken the eight o’clock curfew. To her astonishment, the three armored vehicles of the ISF checkpoint were now burning, twisted wrecks and many of the soldiers lay still on the pavement or were obviously wounded. A fourth blue bolt of light then nearly blinded the mother when it hit a group of soldiers that were dragging a wounded away from one of the burning vehicles. The handful of soldiers left alive then apparently panicked and ran away, leaving their dead and wounded comrades in the middle of the street.
Sending her son join his two siblings with words that left no place for discussion, the woman prayed that her husband, a city policeman that had gone underground at the start of the ISF invasion of Seattle, was still alive and safe. As she looked again at the burning ISF vehicles, wondering what had hit them, she was shocked to see two dark silhouettes come out from one of the apartment buildings lining the avenue and run to the wrecks. Now fearing the worst for the two foolhardy men, the mother watched them start to collect and sling the troopers abandoned weapons and ammunition. Another man, then two more, this time a teenage boy and a girl, soon joined in the looting. Two ISF soldiers who lay wounded on the pavement were mercilessly finished off with 234
repeated blows from the bats and steel bars carried by the looters. Then, nearly as quickly as they had appeared, the looters dispersed and disappeared, each one of them now carrying at least one weapon. That pleased the mother, until she thought about the reaction of other ISF soldiers when they would find their men dead and disarmed. At the least, they were going to search methodically the whole neighborhood to find back those weapons. They could also possibly take hostages as a reprisal measure, something they were said to often do. Her fears materialized ten minutes later, when four big armored carriers came rolling to the destroyed checkpoint and started disgorging dozens of ISF soldiers. Before they could form up or disperse, though, a concentration of four large blue beams coming down from the sky struck the ISF force with a thunderous crackling noise. This time, they were continuous beams, instead of short bolts, and danced around the street, vaporizing both vehicles and soldiers. This time, there were no weapons or ammunition left intact to be looted, while a good fifty meters of the avenue was turned into a puddle of red-hot lava. As she was staring wide-eyed at that scene, the woman’s wrist videophone buzzed. She gasped when she saw that the caller’s number was that of her husband and hurried to activate her phone.
‘’Bill, is that you? The screen is dark.’’
‘’It’s me, honey.’’ Said a voice she knew well, making her sob with joy.
‘’Thank God you’re alive! Where are you?’’
‘’Sorry, can’t say that on the phone, honey. I am safe and with some friends.
How are things with you and the kids? Did soldiers come to look for me?’’
‘’Not yet, Bill. However, a total of seven ISF vehicles have been destroyed by blue rays from the sky just under our windows, plus many soldiers killed. What is going on?’’
‘’That,’’ answered her husband in a triumphant tone, ‘’is laser fire from Spacer ships in orbit above Seattle. From what I have heard from the underground up to now, ISF vehicles and installations around Seattle are being systematically chased down and destroyed from orbit by the Spacers. If it continues at the present rhythm, the ISF may well be forced to abandon Seattle within days.’’
‘’Bill, some local people looted the weapons of the dead soldiers. Couldn’t that attract retaliations?’’
‘’It could, honey, but that is something we were hoping to be able to do. We need more weapons if we are to stand a chance against the ISF. Until further notice, do not go out of the apartment and do not let the kids out as well, even during daylight: 235
things may get very tense for the coming days. No school, no work, honey, and please ration whatever food you have left. What you have now will have to do for the next few days.’’
‘’I..I understand, Bill. Please be careful on your side.’’
‘’I will, honey. I will now have to shut down my phone and move to a new location, before the ISF can trace my call. Tell the kids that I love them.’’
‘’We love you too, Bill.’’ Said the mother just before the line was cut. Now alone again with her kids in the dark apartment, the woman started sobbing, living through the worst time of her life yet.
18:16 (Shanghai Time) / 02:16 (Seattle Time) Federal government complex, Shanghai
China
‘’So, where are we going for supper, Major Mavutu?’’
Henry Mavutu, still in uniform, smiled while admiring Winnie Zuma, who had finally been able to leave her job for the night.
‘’Well, first, maybe we should go to your place, so that you can change for the occasion.’’
‘’But, isn’t my business dress fashionable enough?’’
Henry made a show of kissing her hand in front of the others passing through the main lobby of the government building, speaking to Winnie in a whisper.
‘’Trust me and let’s go to your place.’’
Having heard a succession of bad news come in during the day and understanding that what he had in mind had to stay secret from others, Winnie played the game and followed him to a runabout parked in one of the spots reserved for officials in front of the building. Once inside, she was about to ask him what was going on when he made a gesture for her to keep silent. Mavutu then bent down and worked briefly with some wires under the instrument panel. When he straightened up, he smiled at Winnie and spoke in a normal tone.
‘’We can now speak freely, miss: I have disconnected the microphone hidden in the instrument panel.’’
Winnie looked at him with alarm.
‘’Your runabout was bugged? By whom?’’
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‘’By the ISF Counter-Intelligence Branch. It is not that I was considered a security risk, but these guys are truly paranoid: they suspect everybody.’’
‘’Including
me?’’
‘’Including you, my dear. Why do you think that their branch swallows such a huge budget? They have paid snitches and electronic bugs everywhere. Their problem is that they can’t believe that some other people are smarter than them.’’
‘’Some people like you, Major?’’
‘’Yes! And please, call me simply Henry. What I am going to tell you will probably shock you, but it is the simple reality, Winnie. The days of the ISF and of Horace Zembelo are counted. The Spacers have firmly seized control of space and of Earth’s orbit and are actually busy destroying the bases and installations of the ISF one by one. They even have started harassing with laser fire our troops occupying cities in the Northern Hemisphere. Allied with their stranglehold on Earth’s imports from space, that means that they have for all intents and purposes won the war today, with the destruction of our orbital fortresses. It is now only a question of days and weeks before they chase down and destroy what’s left of the ISF and of Zembelo’s regime.’’
The young secretary paled at those words and put one hand on her heart.
‘’But,
us…’’
‘’We will also be chased down…if we stay with Zembelo and the ISF. Please don’t think that I am simply an opportunist ready to jump ship at the first storm, Winnie.
When I joined the ISF twelve years ago, I believed in its stated goals to uphold order and oppose those who would exploit the people. I was then young and naïve, but have since seen the true nature of the ISF: a corrupt entity pursuing power for itself. The coup against Grand Administrator Li finished opening my eyes to that. Leaving then would however have probably meant my death on suspicions of disloyalty, so I played the game and stayed on. In a sense, I was happy to work on Zembelo’s staff, as I was thus able to avoid having to commit atrocities myself as part of our field troops.’’
‘’And what if you would have been selected for a combat unit? Would you have obeyed orders to kill unarmed civilians?’’ Asked Winnie while staring at him. Henry lowered his head, answering in a soft voice.
‘’I don’t know if I would have had the courage to refuse such orders, Winnie. You know what can happen to those who question orders, do you?’’
Winnie’s expression softened and she patted gently his shoulder.
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‘’At least you answered me honestly, Henry. If you wanted to know about me, I can tell you that my present job is just that, a job that gives me a way to pay my bills and live in fair comfort. I am no Zembelo fan, far from it.’’
‘’And he never tried to abuse his position with you?’’
Henry realized at once that he had asked a wrong question when she turned her head away and hesitated.
‘’I’m sorry for having asked that, Winnie. I shouldn’t have. Please excuse me.’’
‘’No need to, Henry.’’ She said in a bitter tone. ‘’Zembelo has imposed himself on many successive secretaries already. I am only the latest of what he considers his personal trophies. Unfortunately, getting him angry can have far worse consequences than just losing my job. So, what were you planning to do really tonight, Henry?’’
Mavutu eyed her for a moment in silence, then decided that he could trust her and took hold of her left hand.
‘’What I had in mind is to go to your place, to let you pack a suitcase, then to go ask for political asylum to the Spacers.’’
‘’You, an ISF major? What makes you think that the Spacers won’t kill you on sight?’’
‘’Normally they probably would, but I have a few aces up my sleeve. Trust me, Winnie.’’
13:27 (Universal Time) / 21:27 (Shanghai Time) Hangar Deck, MSS KOSTROMA
Low Earth orbit
‘’What do we have here exactly, Bill?’’ Asked Tina to her head of security the moment she entered the small craft hangar. Bill Morrison showed her a display screen which gave them a view of one of the craft airlocks. A green runabout bearing ISF
markings sat in the airlock, which was now pressurized, with men in spacesuits apparently inspecting it carefully inside and out.
‘’One of our patrolling escort fighters intercepted that runabout as it was climbing to low Earth orbit while emitting messages on the distress frequency. Supposedly, we have a pair of defectors asking for political asylum. One of them is an ISF officer, the other a government secretary. My men are presently making sure that no lethal 238
chemical agent or other nefarious item is aboard before letting it inside the hangar proper.’’
‘’An excellent precaution, Bill.’’ Said Tina approvingly. ‘’An ISF officer and a secretary, you said? That sounds nearly like a loving couple on the run.’’
Morrison strangled a laugh at that and nodded his head.
‘’A few would think so, I suppose, Tina. However, that ISF officer better give us some very good reasons to treat him gently.’’
‘’Same for me here, Bill. Well, we will soon see.’’
After nine more minutes, the runabout was declared safe and was moved to the hangar. With four armed men backing him, Bill Morrison signaled to the pilot, a tall African man, to open his access hatch, which he did. Pistol in hand, Morrison shouted an order to the two occupants.
‘’ALRIGHT, COME OUT NOW WITH YOUR HANDS HIGH!’’
The man and woman, both Africans, cautiously came out, some fear visible on the face of the woman. They were immediately searched in detail, with Tina taking care of searching the woman.
‘’No weapons on them, Bill.’’ Announced one of the security men, Lars Niström.
‘’They however have pieces of luggage inside the runabout.’’
‘’Then search those while I talk with those two, Lars.’’ Replied Morrison before eyeing the African man.
‘’Who are you and why do you want to defect from the ISF?’’
‘’I am Major Henry Mavutu and I was up to now member of the military liaison team attached to the office of Grand Administrator Horace Zembelo, in Shanghai. My friend, Winnie Zuma, was the executive secretary of Zembelo. We want to defect because we disapproved of the recent policies and conduct of the ISF and of Zembelo.’’
‘’You realized that the same day the fortunes of the ISF abruptly changed? How convenient!’’
Mavutu frowned, realizing full well how flimsy his pretext could appear to be.
‘’Look, mister, I never did field combat duty with the ISF. I am a computer specialist by formation and have no taste for all that killing. However, in the ISF, you either follow orders and shut up or you get in trouble. I defected today because your successes gave me an opening to flee.’’
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‘’And you, Miss Zuma?’’ Asked Tina, who had up to now stayed in the background during the questioning. ‘’Why are you defecting?’’
‘’Because my job as executive secretary of Horace Zembelo was becoming more unbearable by the day and because Major Mavutu offered me an occasion to leave with him. For me, my job was just that, a job. Well-paying jobs are not common in Africa these days. However, Zembelo proved to be an abusive employer. The problem for me was that you don’t just quit on Horace Zembelo.’’
‘’I see!’’ Said Tina, impassive. Somehow, she was tempted to believe Winnie Zuma’s story. More importantly, she must have had access to many classified documents that could interest he a lot.
‘’Did Zembelo let you see classified documents, miss?’’
‘’Of course! I was his executive secretary and handled all of his documents.’’
‘’Excellent! Would you be ready to discuss those documents with us?’’
‘’If you wish so, yes.’’
‘’Then, did you see anything about the production of a lethal chemical agent, Miss Zuma?’’
That made Mavutu’s head snap in surprise.
‘’You know about that? I was going to tell you about it…on a few conditions.’’
Tina stepped forward to get closer to Mavutu, while leaving her security men able to cover him with their weapons. She then spoke in a cold, hard voice.
‘’What conditions, Major? And what do you know about them?’’
‘’Uh, who are you, if I may ask?’’ Said the African man, not wanting to give up his information to just anyone.
‘’My name is Tina Forster, captain and owner of the KOSTROMA. So, am I important enough for you now?’’
She was surprised to see a smile then appear on Mavutu’s face.
‘’Captain Forster, you have no idea how often Horace Zembelo or Marshal Khan cursed your name in terms quite pungent.’’
‘’Really?’’ Said Tina, smiling in turn. ‘’I am flattered. So, what do you know about that lethal chemical agent?’’
‘’First, Captain Forster, I would like to negotiate what I and Winnie would get out of providing you such information.’’
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‘’How about this, Major: you give me enough to satisfy me and I promise to have you two dropped safely in any location of your choice on Earth, and to forget about you afterwards. You would however have to wait in cells while I verify your information.’’
Mavutu exchanged a look with Winnie, who nodded her head.
‘’That sounds reasonable, Henry.’’
‘’I think so too.’’ Replied Mavutu before facing back Tina. ‘’That lethal agent is a 300 years old formula recently rediscovered by the ISF. It is extremely toxic and can act by breathing its vapors or by skin contact with droplets. It then kills within a minute by disrupting the messages sent via the nerves around the body. I don’t know its chemical formula but the ISF researchers said that the only counter-measure is an immediate injection of atropine. It is presently under production in a plant hidden inside an old mine complex near Lagos, in Nigeria. That plant is heavily guarded, though. I could pinpoint that location for you on a map.’’
‘’We will certainly do that later, mister. When was the ISF planning to use it?’’
‘’As soon as enough stocks would have been produced to be able to send infiltrators all around the Solar System. The latest estimates for that were about ten days from now. Over sixty tons of it has already been produced.’’
‘’Sixty tons!’’ Exclaimed Tina, horrified. ‘’And how much of it is needed to kill a man?’’
‘’A simple droplet on the floor of a small room would create enough lethal vapor to kill everyone in that room, Captain Forster. One man with a thermos bottle full of that agent could kill everyone in a large ship or space habitat by pouring the content in the ventilation system.’’
Tina exchanged a worried look with Bill Morrison.
‘’If that’s true, then we will have to move fast.’’
‘’It is true, Captain.’’ Assured Mavutu. ‘’That plan to use this chemical agent was part of the reasons for me to defect: I refuse to have any part in it.’’
‘’Very well, Mister Mavutu.’’ Said gravely Tina, dropping ostensibly the ‘Major’
when addressing him. ‘’You show us the location of that secret plant and, if your info proves accurate, you and your friend will be free to go. What do you say to that?’’
‘’That it sounds like a fair deal, Captain.’’
Tina nodded her head, then took out her electronic notepad and opened on it a map of Africa, zooming it to the area of Lagos and showing it to Mavutu.
‘’Show me the location of that plant, mister.’’
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Mavutu obliged, using a pen to pinpoint a precise location on the map.
‘’It’s here, about twenty kilometers to the North-East of Lagos, on the eastern slopes of that hill. There is a small landing pad near the cave entrance of the plant.’’
Marking electronically that point, Tina pocketed back her notepad and glanced at Bill Morrison.
‘’Alright, Bill, you can lead them to cells. They will be treated politely and will eat standard ship food from the cafeteria while we check this info out. Let them have access to their luggage, so that they can change if they want to.’’
‘’Understood, Tina. Alright you two: follow me and no funny moves, or you will regret it.’’
Winnie Zuma gave a last anxious look at Tina as she was led away with her companion.
Somehow, that look convinced Tina that she and Mavutu had said the truth.
14:46 (Universal Time)
Bridge of the MSS KOSTROMA
‘’From all our overhead imagery and sensors pictures, I would say that this is indeed an underground installation of importance, Tina.’’ Said Patricia O’Neil, bent like Tina over a large electronic display table showing a detailed view from above of the old mine complex near Lagos. ‘’According to archive data, this mine complex ran dry of ore over sixty years ago, yet it is evidently in activity. Even more, security around it is very tight, something an old mine would not warrant. I can count the equivalent of a full ISF
battalion guarding that hill and its accesses. The thermal signatures of the air ventilation shafts of the mine show that it is occupied and active, yet no ore cart or other mining equipment is visible, apart from that pile of rusting equipment half covered with vegetation on this side of the mine. If it is not a secret government plant or installation, then I don’t know what it is.’’
‘’Hum, with that kind of security around it, it would be near impossible to send a ground reconnaissance team there without risking heavy casualties. On the other hand, if we can believe that Mavutu, we don’t have much time left. It has to be destroyed, and quickly.’’
Bill Morrison, who had been asked by Tina to attend the meeting due to his security expertise, then spoke up.
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‘’But how? A ground assault, even with laser supporting fire from our ship, would be costly in men. Those ISF troopers would have a big advantage, defending from inside mine tunnels. Our heavy lasers might be able to burn through that hill, but we would never be sure if we really destroyed what we wanted to hit. That leaves our ship heavy missiles but, again, there would be no way for us to know if they did the job right.
Don’t forget that, once alerted, it would need only one ISF scientist to escape with the formula and samples of that chemical agent to perpetuate that nightmare. If we destroy that plant, then it must be destroyed completely and suddenly, so that none of the key personnel of that plant can escape.’’
‘’How about sealing all the exits of that mine complex with missile strikes and letting those bastards inside rot to hell.’’ Suggested Patricia, making Tina think for a moment before shaking her head.
‘’A nice idea, if we were sure we knew where all the exits are. If they extensively modified that mine for their purpose, these bastards could as well have dug extra exit tunnels. With the jungle surrounding that hill, such exits would be very hard to find from up here. Right now, I can think of only one weapon that could do the work here.
However, it is a weapon I do not want to use so close to a major city like Lagos. I am talking about one of the rock missiles of our battle station, MJOLNIR.’’
Patricia opened her mouth in shock while staring at Tina.
‘’But, such a strike would have the equivalent destructive power of a multi-megaton thermonuclear device, Tina. Millions would die in and around Lagos.’’
‘’I know, Patricia, and that is why I do not wish to use that weapon unless we absolutely have to. God, I never wanted to have to take these kind of decisions anyway.’’
‘’What about a repeat of what we did with the KOSTROMA over Adana and the Capetown base?’’ Suggested Morrison, again making Tina shake her head.
‘’Remember that it took us a good hour to descend from orbit on both occasions.
With radars operational in Lagos airport, the ISF would know we are coming down well before we could be in position, thus giving them time to evacuate their key personnel and, maybe, their stocks of chemical agent as well.’’
‘’Damn, you’re right about that!’’
‘’As much as I hate to say this, I must pass the buck to someone higher than me on this, my friends. I am not ready to be responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent civilians. Patricia, have our physicists calculate the effects of a rock missile 243
strike from the MJOLNIR on that mine complex and its surrounding region. In the meantime, I will be preparing a message for the leaders of the Spacers League, to which I will attach our physicists’ findings. Let those politicians take these kinds of decisions: they are paid to do that, not me or anyone else on this ship.’’
‘’I certainly wouldn’t want to have that on my conscience, Tina.’’ Agreed Patricia O’Neil.
19:18 (Universal Time)
Captain’s day cabin, Bridge Level
MSS KOSTROMA
Tina had taken to the habit of having a few short naps daily in her day cabin since Operation Stonehenge had started. With the multitudes of sudden decisions to take and tasks to complete, she had not had a true night of sleep in days and needed those naps to be able to keep on. In that she was no different from many past admirals and generals in human history who had to deal with the stress and exhaustion of war.
This time, she was shaken awake by Patricia O’Neil, instead of being awakened by her alarm clock.
‘’Tina…Tina…wake
up!’’