Return to Dakistee (15 page)

"Anyway, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it if I have to leave soon."

Carmoody looked on as Christa investigated the console information and progressed through all the different displays available.

"There has to be a
lot
more to this facility than we've so far discovered. There are far too many readouts here for just this floor and the lower one, but the information is too general to pinpoint anything. We have to locate the engineering area. It's too bad Admiral Hubera wouldn't loan us some people for even a few hours."

"If there are more floors, there has to be a way of controlling the elevator to stop at them."

"Yes, that's true. There are no visual controls in the elevator, so they must be audible. One thing I haven't tried yet is to contact the main computer orally." Speaking loudly in Dakistian, she said, "Computer, can you respond?"

They waited for a full minute, listening for any response but heard nothing.

"What does that mean?" Carmoody asked. "That it can't respond audibly, or that it didn't hear or recognize the command?"

"I don't know. Perhaps there are no auditory sensors on this floor, but that wouldn't make sense since this appears to be a vital security area."

"Can you input requests for information through the console?"

"I didn't see anything that permitted that. Let's look through them again."

After twenty minutes of searching, the two women conceded that no provision for posting queries to the computer existed via the console.

"What now?" Carmoody asked.

"This is just one console of three on this side of the entrance, and there may be three on the other side. Let's check them all to see if they contain different functions. Do you feel comfortable going it alone?"

"I think so. If I have any questions or problems, you'll be nearby, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, let's do it."

At one point, while they worked, Christa snapped her fingers lightly to get Carmoody's attention. When Grace looked over, Christa pointed to the rotunda. A small army of bots were emerging from hidden closets around the huge circular room. They began to work with amazing speed, scrubbing and polishing floors, walls, and ceiling. One bot, tasked to clean the windows on the security rooms, paused and stared for a couple of seconds at the two female officers, then continued its work. When the rotunda was finished, all bots scurried back to their hidden locations and disappeared from view.

"Amazing," Carmoody said. "Do they have the same bots at Fort Carver?"

"I don't know. I never saw any. If we hadn't just seen them emerge from their storage locations, I wouldn't have suspected they were here in such quantity."

"I guess the rotunda was once a busy place," Carmoody said, "so they were probably designed to get the job done as quickly as possible while the area was unoccupied. Did you notice the way that one bot stared at us?"

"Perhaps it was the first time in almost two hundred centuries it had seen a live person and was confused by our presence. Or perhaps it was simply alerting central control that people were in this security room. They cleaned the other security room but never entered this one."

"That's probably it."

Hours later, the two women completed their work with the security consoles.

"Anything?" Christa asked when Carmoody had wrapped up her efforts.

"I found no way to access any part of the system, other than the personnel database."

"Same here," Christa said. "I've never been so stonewalled by a computer system. I think the personnel database is the only data system connected to these consoles, except for an environmental data feed. They must have intended security personnel to perform basic monitoring services 24/7 so engineering personnel would only have to be summoned when conditions varied outside established parameters."

"That doesn't help
us
, though."

"No, it doesn't."

"What next?"

"We now know how to operate these consoles, and we can establish security controls. Let's set up a password and lock each of the consoles so they're safe from tampering by the archeologists, just in case the dig site people get in. Then we'll grab some lunch and tackle the issue with the elevator."

* * *

"We'll reach the planet in two days time. It will be early morning, local time, Excellency," Gxidescu reported. "Our spies there report no Nordakian Space Force or Space Command ships are currently in orbit. We should have a clear field for our operation."

"Excellent. Our attack will no doubt come as quite a surprise to Azula Carver. I wish I could see her face when she learns how we respond to infidels who dare involve themselves in our sacred matters. It would be most fitting if we could find proof that she created the false Almuth delivered to our homeland. But we may never know how she managed to convince the King and certain church elders that it was genuine. I regret that we won't be able to put
her
on trial and exact retribution. A traditional stoning, with a large audience, would be glorious. But Region Two is far beyond our reach."

"Yes, Excellency."

"Are the sacred Warriors of Jubada ready?"

"They have been practicing each and every day of our journey. They are ready and most anxious to take possession of the land promised in the scriptures of Jubada."

"When we arrive at the planet, we must be ready to launch as soon as we place the jamming satellites. It may be weeks before anyone arrives to investigate, but we can't guarantee that, so we must be entrenched and ready to repel all attempts to displace us. Our maps tell us that the planet is sparsely populated, with most people located in one of three major locations. As each outlying area is conquered, we'll move to the next. The three large population centers will be reserved for last. By then we may have been able to recruit, or conscript, additional soldiers for our holy struggle. I wish we had been able to acquire more reconditioned fighters on Nordakia, but we won’t rest until the entire planet is ours. The followers of the One True Word will again have a homeland. And as we plant our crops, the ground will be enriched by the blood of infidels. Those idiot puppets of the royal family on Nordakia actually believed we would go to a hot, miserable little planet like Slabeca while a planet rich in agrarian potential was allowed to lie fallow. The fools."

* * *

"Be careful what you touch in here," Christa said when they entered the elevator, "and don't say anything in Nordakian. What we want to do first is examine every inch of the walls to see if there might be camouflaged controls. I realize it seems unlikely, but you've seen what they did with the consoles. When we touch something, we want to be as certain as possible that it won't have adverse consequences."

After forty minutes of examining the walls, Carmoody threw up her hands. "I can't see anything that indicates the walls are anything more than just walls."

"Nor can I," Christa said. "Okay, on to Plan B."

"What's Plan B?"

"We ask the elevator for information, like we did in the security rooms."

"The security rooms didn't answer us," Carmoody said.

"No, but maybe the elevator is feeling more talkative." Switching to Dakistian , Christa said, "Computer, can you hear me?"

A disembodied voice said, "State floor and destination, or close the door and you will be delivered to the housing floor."

Christa and Carmoody looked at one another and smiled.

Chapter Eleven

~ October 23
^rd
, 2285 ~

"Computer, list the available stops," Christa said.

"There are five levels available— Administrative Offices\Operations, Housing, Medical\Research\Library, Recreation, and the Vault level."

"What's this level?"

"You are currently at the Rotunda entrance."

"Are there any other entrances?"

"Negative."

"What's the Vault level?"

"It is a level where the Vault is located," the computer interface said simply.

"What's in the Vault?"

"State floor and destination, or close the door and you will be delivered to the Housing level."

Christa looked over at Carmoody, who nodded and responded with, "Helpful."

"Computer, take us to the Vault level," Christa said.

"Level accepted."

The elevator just sat there until Christa remembered to say, "Hudaksei."

As had happened on the previous trip down, the floor seemed to fall out from under them, but this time they were prepared and barely nervous that the stop might be considerably more sudden than anticipated.

The doors opened to complete darkness, as had been the case with the last trip. Christa gave the command for illumination and the hallway before them was brilliantly lit in a second.

"Left or right?" Christa asked as they stepped into the corridor.

"We went right last time. Let's try left this time."

Where the corridor had disappeared into darkness on their first trip, they could actually see the end before additional lights came on this time. Christa walked right up to the door and said, "Open," in Dakistian.

Rather than opening immediately, a disembodied voice said, "ID?"

Christa thought for a second and remembered the name of an official she had seen while in the rotunda security room trying to access the computer files. She rattled it off.

"Password," the voice said.

"I don't remember."

"Then you must go to security, identify yourself, and request a new password."

It was no use arguing with a computer. They never relented. She would have gotten just as far if she started an argument with the marble tile on the floor.

"I'm going back up to the security station, Gracie. I'll be right back."

"Why don't we just check out the rest of the floor today, and we can do the security thing tomorrow."

"Well, we could— but I'm anxious to see what it is they felt they had to password protect down here."

"Okay, Christa. Do you want me to accompany you?"

"No, I'll be right back. With the speed of that elevator, the trip should only take about five minutes."

Carmoody was still standing by the door when Christa returned. "I set up IDs for each of us. Your ID is 'Grace Carmoody,' and the password is 'Fort Carver.'

"That's easy enough to remember."

"There was no sense making it difficult since we're the only ones likely to be using it. Okay, let's take a look at what's inside."

Christa provided her new ID and password when queried by the computer, and the two entrance doors slid open noiselessly. After giving the verbal command for illumination, she and Carmoody stepped into a cavernous area that disappeared into darkness at the far recesses without giving the slightest indication of how far it might extend. Christa could see at least fifty meters into the distance before darkness masked the rest. The roof of the chamber had to be at least twenty meters high, and the width of the area easily matched that. It took a couple of seconds for the impact of the room's immense size to be fully realized, and then a couple more before the room's contents registered. Christa's jaw dropped as everything coalesced. "Oh— my— God!"

"Are those what I think they are?" Carmoody asked, just as shocked by the find as Christa.

"I can't imagine what else they might be."

"There must be thousands."

"Tens of thousands, I'd say," Christa replied.

"Why are they here?"

"That's the million dollar question." Christa took a deep breath and added, "I never expected anything like this. I must report this immediately."

"We'd better change the password to something a little more complex. I have a feeling we're not going to be working alone here for much longer, and we don’t want the wrong people getting into this area, if you know what I mean."

"Yes, I know what you mean. No one without top-level security access can be permitted in here. And don't mention the ability to select the level in the elevator. In fact, don't mention anything about today to anybody until we get orders on how to proceed."

"Understood."

As the two women reached the surface, Christa reminded Carmoody to mask her emotions.

"You look like you just lost your best friend, Gracie."

"I'm sorry. I was thinking about what we just found. I'll clear my mind."

A few seconds later, Grace managed a completely impassive expression. Christa nodded and they stepped out into the late afternoon sunlight. Ten minutes later, they were in Christa's shuttle sending a message to Jenetta, with a copy to Admiral Holt.

As Christa ended the message and sat back in the pilot's seat, the computer announced that a message had just arrived from Higgins.

"That certainly can't be a reply to the new message," Christa said as she called up the 'view messages' screen and selected the latest message to play. It was encrypted, so she positioned herself where the computer could verify her identify via retinal scan and held it until the computer was satisfied.

"Hello, Christa," the affable face of Admiral Holt said as the scan process completed. "Although Admiral Carver may have other thoughts on the subject, I'll tell you now that Admiral Hubera doesn't have the authority to boot you out of my deca-sector, and I'm quite upset that he attempted it. As a member of the Admiralty Board, Admiral Hubera votes on many vital issues that affect all of Galactic Alliance space, but his vote is just one of ten, and as an individual he has no power to command, although he deserves the respect owed his rank. Since he was never a line officer, he was never eligible to be a base commander and has never had the authority to direct the work efforts of Space Command personnel, except those of his aides and office staff, as well as the corps of cadets when he taught at the Academy. My instructions to you are to remain where you are until you hear from Admiral Carver. It's her decision and her decision alone to recall you to Region Two or have you remain on Dakistee until you decide your mission has been completed.