Doctor Webber felt a film of sweat building on his brow as he approached the naval briefing room. He stayed close behind the soldier that was escorting him. Webber had tried to start a conversation with the young man earlier, but that had ended in only a few short words. It seemed as if the entire base had turned against him overnight. Word certainly seemed to Spread fast.
They reached the end of the hall and the soldier opened the door ahead of him.
Webber peered inside and saw several men dressed in uniform, seated around a large centered table. He assumed that they were the music he would be facing.
“Thanks,” Webber walked past the guard and into the dimly lit room.
There were four people inside. Webber recognized only two of them. One was Commodore Anderson, the other the Lieutenant he had flown with the night before. The other two men Webber did not know, but by their age and markings, he knew they were high ranking members of the department.
Webber saw an empty seat next to the Lieutenant, facing opposite the old men. He felt their stares as he approached it, swallowing involuntarily.
“Have a seat, Doctor,” Anderson gestured to the waiting chair.
“Thank you,” said Webber, clearing his throat as he sat down.
He glanced briefly over to the Lieutenant, but she stared straight ahead of her, her expression undecipherable. Webber decided to smile. It was all he could think of doing really. He knew the military was pissed that a multi-million dollar project they had invested in had suddenly gotten up and walked away. He certainly would be too. In fact, he was a little, but he was more intrigued with the whole idea than anything else. The men seated across from him certainly would not be interested in hearing that, however. They wanted answers from the man who was supposed to be in charge of it all. Answers that he would have to come up with, almost on the spot.
“Doctor Webber,” Anderson finally spoke. “This is Rear Admiral Quinnly and Vice Admiral Jameson.”
Anderson gestured to the men seated next to him. Quinnly was a portly man with a graying full beard and bushy eyebrows. He had the look of a true naval commander. Jameson was a somewhat thin black man, with a light complexion, a mustache and neatly trimmed hair. He looked compassionate, Webber hoped that he indeed was.
“They arrived this morning from Washington, after hearing about the events which transgressed last night.” Anderson then stopped to clear his throat. “Lieutenant Petty has
already provided her account of the part she and her squad played in the incident. Now we’d like to hear yours.”
Webber drummed “his fingers nervously. “so what do you want to know exactly?”
“You were in charge of this project weren’t you doctor Webber?” Admiral Quinnly asked suddenly.
"If you are referring to the technical aspect, then yes." Webber took care to speak slowly and carefully. This wasn't Anderson he was dealing with. These men had tact and apparently a lot more at stake.
"We read your statement," Jameson flipped through some papers in front of him. "You say that Commander Suta somehow introduced a viral infection into the GS-02 test body. And that this virus somehow took control?"
"Yes sir," Webber nodded. "Though I'm not exactly sure it was a virus."
"Then what was it?" Quinnly leaned forward.
"I believe it may have been a program of some kind. Perhaps some kind of artificial intelligence."
"Is it possible doctor Webber, in your opinion, for such a highly advanced AI program to exist?" asked Quinnly.
"I'm just speculating Admiral," Webber didn't want to place himself in a comer. "In truth, I don't know what was actually downloaded into the GS-02 braincase."
"Do you think it is possible that the downloaded information was some kind of client and the body was being controlled externally. Perhaps even by Commander Suta herself?" Quinnly began fiddling with a pen as he waited for him to answer.
Webber thought for a moment. "I suppose it’s possible, but someone would have to have intricate knowledge of the GS-02 hardware to create something like that."
"Like one of the members from your team?" The Vice Admiral cocked an eyebrow at him. "Or perhaps even yourself?"
"What? Am I the one on trial here?" Webber flared. No way were they going to try to pin this shit on him. "I had nothing whatsoever to do with this. I'm as baffled by what happened as you are!"
"All right calm down, Webber," Anderson raised his hand. "Please go on Admiral." "How long had Commander Suta been on base before all this happened?" Jameson began to take notes on a pad.
"Two hours maybe," Webber shrugged.
"Two hours," repeated Jameson. "She certainly didn't waste any time did she?"
Webber wasn't quite sure how to answer him. "I suppose not."
"Well it seems as if she had this whole thing planned out." Jameson looked up from his pad. "She got here, got what she wanted and then left. From what you know of her, do you think that was the case?"
"I really don't know," Webber shook his head. "She gave no indication, I mean she hardly knew of the android body. In fact, I don't think I mentioned it much at all. Much less the location and details of its programming, which is what she would have to have known in order to download some kind of control program into it."
"So you don't think it's possible then?" said Quinnly. "Well anything is possible I suppose," Webber shrugged.
"What we are trying to determine, doctor Webber, is motive," Quinnly explained. "Someone, with the use of Commander Suta, succeeded in stealing a highly classified piece of government equipment. We believe that Suta, or the people she works for is planning to sell the android to another government or perhaps hold it for ransom to our own."
Stolen story; please report.
"What?" Webber didn't understand their logic at all. "How do you figure that?"
"Care to explain?" Anderson looked towards Petty.
“Yes, sir,” the young Lieutenant answered him quickly. “Two CDI agents were already on the scene at the time of our arrival at the crash site. We believe they may have been investigating or even tracking Commander Suta.”
“Who did you say?” Webber asked. “The FBI?”
“CDI,” Quinnly corrected him. “The department of Civil Defense and Investigations. You’ve never heard of it?”
“Ah...” Webber felt a bit embarrassed. “Well probably, I ‘m just not that familiar with the acronym that’s all.”
“They are a small branch of the military,” Lieutenant Petty explained further.
“Specializing in Anti-terrorist intelligence gathering and operations. It was formed after the Washington War.”
“Washington War?” Webber thought. “When the capital was attacked?”
“That’s right,” Quinnly nodded. “Terrorists armed with US grade military hardware. Including main battle tanks and gunships. The siege lasted three weeks.
The govenment was so shocked and embarrassed that terrorists could get hold of such equipment unnoticed, a whole new branch of the service was formed to prevent it from ever happening again.”
“So you think Barro- I mean Commander Suta is a terrorist?” Webber looked about them skeptically.
“Perhaps,” said Jameson. “It could also be that someone was trying to smuggle the android out.”
“Smuggle?” Webber was definitely getting confused.
Quinnly then passed him a folder. Opening it, Webber found a picture of the man he had seen the night before.
“The agent that Lieutenant Petty found at the scene was a Major Eric Corbin,”
Quinnly continued. “We’ve had quite some history with this man. He is the head of their heavy weapons division. His job is to keep tabs on the movement of military grade equipment throughout the anned forces and the underworld. If he was there, that gives us an indication that perhaps Commander Suta is involved in some kind of heavy arms smuggling activity.”
“Whether she is in charge or just a pawn is what we need to discover.” Jameson took the folder back from him. “We’ve ruled out you as a suspect, but the people below you remain in question.”
Well thank God for that, Webber thought. “Have you questioned them?”
“Not as yet,” said Commodore Anderson. “We were hoping you could help us narrow down the field a little. Is there anyone you think might be involved in such activity who had the knowledge to do it?”
Webber was quiet for a moment. He wasn’t one to go pointed fingers. No matter how bad a situation, it just didn’t feel right to him.
“There’s really no one I can think of,” Webber replied after a while. “They are all very dedicated to the project and USSD. They were as taken aback by the whole situation as I was. I really don’t think they are involved at all.”
Quinnly stroked his beard. “We’ll check anyway, but for now let us assume that Suta acted independent of any USSD help. If she indeed stole the GS-O2 we need to know what she plans to do with it.”
“I have no clue,” Webber shrugged. “Why would anyone want the GS-02 anyway?”
“Its construction material alone is valuable,” said Jameson, “we are the only country to produce gravitationally compressed alloys. The rest of the world is hot to steal the technology.”
Webber knew that that much was true. The entire android body was made of the material. Webber himself was not sure of its exact composition. He only knew it was strong enough to support it’s own weight under the acceleration forces produced by the test vehicle it was supposed to fly.
“They could also be after the optical processor,” added Quinnly waving a finger. “But at any rate, we need the GS-02 recovered along with Commander Suta, and the people she is working with. USSD can’t risk this as a security leak.”
“We were lucky the media wasn’t present during the incident.” Jameson wrote a few more words down on his pad. “If the GS-02 and the entire Geo Star program became public knowledge then we’d be in the middle of a fiasco.”
“Fiasco?” Webber said. “What do you mean? This project isn’t illegal. Is it?”
“Not entirely,” said Jameson. “The Geo Star is still a vehicle for space exploration, however, the governments of the world would want to know why it was kept secret.
There would no doubt be implications that the Geo Star is actually a space weapon, and that we were breaking the UN Space Arms Treaty of 201 1, which prevents the secret development of space weaponry.”
“Well, if it is not a space weapon then why is it a classified project?” Webber sat back in his chair crossing his legs
“The technology we are sitting on is cutting edge,” Quinnly explained. “You of all people should understand the importance of security when new technologies are being developed.”
“Basically the Geo Star is the fore runner for another project,” Jameson said. “The new project called Gun Star, will be Space Defense’s new tactical fighter, incorporating the performance capabilities of the Geo Star program.”
“Gun Star?” Webber looked towards Anderson, who seemed as surprised by the news as he was. “Is this already in development?”
“The project is ready to start as soon as the test results of the Geo Star are completed,” said Quinnly. “From this, you can see why we are so adamant that the GS-02 be recovered and the Geo Star program be put back on track.” Webber eased back in his chair for a moment. He looked over to the Lieutenant and she looked back at him, but her expression was as unreadable as before. “So you don’t really care about bringing Suta to justice or even finding out her motives are you? You just want the damn android back.”
“We don’t have time to worry about why some cyberoid lost it and threw her career away,” Quinnly said with a smirk. “We only care about the results. And for that we need that test body recovered and a new test pilot found.”
“Then why did you even bother asking me all these questions, if all you want to do is
hunt her down and get back your merchandise?”
“Its not so simple, Webber.” Anderson stroked his mustache. “It’s a big city and we don’t have the resources for a search like that. We need clues and contacts to try to locate her.”
“Oh?” Webber furrowed his brow. “Why don’t you just get CDI involved since this is the sort of thing they do anyway?”
Admiral Jameson chuckled. “That would be worse than getting the media involved. Especially that Corbin; someone like him is liable to blow open the Gun Star project before its time and cast shame upon the entire defense department.”
“This will have to be done internally." Quinnly leaned over the desk towards Webber.
“Authorized USSD personnel only.”
“But you just said you don’t have the resources to do it.”
“Not a full scaled overt search,” Anderson pointed his finger. “But we do have key personnel who can handle the job. Lieutenant Petty here is already head of this bases’ special inquiries unit. She will be the internal investigator for this matter.”
“Her?” Webber looked over at the lieutenant again, just in time to see her swallowing hard. “ls she an expert?”
“No Webber, you are!” Anderson shouted annoyed.
“You are the person who knows the perpetrator better than anyone else here,” Quinnly clasped his hands on top of the table. “You’ll be teamed up with Lieutenant Petty and put in charge of the investigation to recover the android.”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Webber retorted hastily. “I don’t know anything about how to go about this. I’m not trained-”
“Dammit Webber,” Anderson shouted. “You built both the damn things, you should know something about them.”
“Yes, but that’s totally different.”
“The objective is to have the GS-02 either recovered or destroyed.” Jameson then looked over to the Lieutenant. “And please do not dismiss Lieutenant Petty’s abilities.
She has had some experience with situations of this nature in the past.”
“Great bloody team,” Webber mumbled cynically. From what he knew of the Lieutenant he would be better off trying to find Barro on his own, than to bother attempting communication with her. Young and hardheaded; that was the best way Webber could describe her.
“This meeting is over,” informed Jameson. “Lieutenant Petty, you have your orders. Webber you are to comply with the Lieutenant and assist her in the retrieval of the GS-02 test body. That is all.”
Pushing her chair backwards, Petty suddenly stood and saluted. Webber looked around awkwardly and stood as Well. The admirals returned the Lieutenant’s salute, as Webber stared on dumbfounded. The entire situation had turned out to be a fine mess, a fine fucking mess indeed.