“It’s very subtle. The researchers are comparing the active files to deep cache copies. There are discrepancies. Not many, and not in all the files they’ve checked so far. But data has been tampered with.” Sie looked worried. “Entire projects have been compromised.”
“If hardware was built on the basis of those files, it wouldn’t work,” Oistad said. “The sabotage would have wrecked years of research and lost us all the industrial resources allocated to fabrication.”
“Then it wasn’t a distraction,” Kandara said thoughtfully. “Not entirely. All of this is aimed at disabling your industrial base.”
“It’s going to paralyze us,” Kruse said in a monotone. “We don’t know how widespread this is. We can’t start to build anything new until the development data has been reviewed. This is…a declaration of war!”
“Interesting analysis,” Kandara said, “given that this seems to be concentrating on systems that have weapons applications.”
“What are you saying?” Tyle asked.
“Your ability to build weapons that you can use to defend yourself against physical assault is being sabotaged.”
“Nobody’s going to invade us!” Oistad said. “That’s insane.”
“Pearl Harbor,” Kandara muttered.
“No,” Kruse declared firmly. “A couple of teams armed with the most advanced routines a G8Turing’s written, and consumed by a hate agenda, that I can accept. But some kind of physical attack? From whom? Nations don’t have standing armies anymore. You assemble ten thousand people, and start giving them military training, and everybody will know. There’s another purpose behind this; there has to be.”
“Glad to hear it,” Kandara said. “So your intelligence service monitors everything on Zagreus, does it?”
Kruse shot her an exasperated look. “I’m not dealing in hypotheticals.”
“Is that what I’m doing? We have reached over a hundred star systems. Twenty-three of them have planets that have been or are being terraformed. You have no idea what’s going on in half of them. Did you know one criminal gang in Ukraine is claiming to have an independent portal door to Zagreus? If you’re truly rich, and managed to hang on to your money, you can buy your way back after you’re renditioned.”
“Really?” a fascinated Tyle asked.
“Like I said: rumor. But I’m completely serious about not knowing what’s going on in some of the star systems we’re settling. And it doesn’t have to be a human army. Soldier drones are cheap and easy to build.”
“I appreciate your insights and feedback,” Kruse said, “but actually this isn’t helping.”
“I understand your position. However, what we’ve found here provides us with the kind of projects that this enemy team is likely to strike next. Tyle can load hir monitors into the appropriate networks.”
“Yes. We’ll do that. I need to inform the Bureau.” Sie managed a weak smile of gratitude and went back indoors.
“For a society that prides itself on individual freedom, sie certainly talks to hir boss a lot,” Kandara observed.
—
The team was kept busy for the rest of the day, reviewing the initial discoveries and trying to identify more corrupted files. Most of the afternoon was spent trying to cross-index with current Universal visitors, and then recent immigrants. Finally the Bureau had them refining potential future targets.
It all allowed Kandara time to herself, which she spent jogging down to the beach and back up again before spending an hour in the villa’s well-equipped gym. After that she ran test procedures on her weapons peripherals, using images splashed over her tarsus lenses for virtual target practice. She much preferred physical range practice, but doubted Naima had one. At least none they’d admit to. She supposed Kruse’s mysterious Bureau possessed a training facility for agents.
By late afternoon, Kandara was considering another swim when Kruse came looking for her.
“You need to pack your bagez,” sie said. “We’re transferring up to Onysko.”
“Where?” Even as she asked, Zapata was spraying information across her lens; it was the primary dormitory habitat for the Bremble asteroid. “Never mind. Why are we going there?”
“It’s been identified as a high-probability target. The highest, actually.”
—
Onysko wasn’t quite as large as Nebesa, measuring only forty-eight kilometers long. This biosphere was temperate and edging into its chilly autumn season when the team walked out of the portal hub. Once they were out in the open, Kandara turned around to look up at the endcap. She’d been expecting a ring city around the base, the same as Nebesa. But here the flat circle was mostly a smooth gray faux-stone with several spectacular waterfalls curving sharply sideways from the Coriolis force. A few sections along the rim, like the one they’d emerged from, were urban zones, with their giveaway balcony stacks.