posted 12-22-98 12:02 AM ET            

I now had a more difficult decision. I had withheld one piece of information from Santiago. One of the earlier sabotage jobs had some evidence recovered from it, and when I looked at it I instantly recognized the work of Zoran Gajic, the section chief of Southeastern Europe in the CfS. He had been a sapper before rising in the ranks and had a distinctive style. He also had been one of the people purged by Santiago the night I met with Mr. Aemora. Speaking of Aemora, he too was coming on the Unity and abondoning his post as head of the Americas wing of the Spartan Federation. I wasn't especially happy about that, but that was another story. Getting back to Gajic, it was clear that not only had he survived, he was trying to work revenge against Santiago. The question was, did Santiago know she had failed in killing him. I feared that even if she did not know now, Gajic would not let up with so little time left before the Unity left. And he might be discovered in some last suicidal attack. Then Santiago would connect the dots, see that I was more loyal to old CfS members than to her, and execute me. Or something like that. I had to do... something. What?

posted 12-22-98 03:09 AM ET            

Zale didn't have a lot to work with. Very little was known about Gajic. Apparently an explosives expert of some kind, but with no record of serving in any armed forces or working for a legitimate company with a need for such skills. Either a professional terrorist or a mercenary, figured Zale. If he was just a mercenary, he probably wouldn't have risen in the ranks of the CfS. Some kind of idealist, then. But there was no record in his file of any operations on the scale of sabotaging the Unity. What could set Gajic off like one of his own bombs?

There had been an attempt on Gajic's life. Probably one of his subordinates trying to move up in the ranks. Zale stopped for a second, and pondered this thought. He punched the code for Yang into his vid-screen. His friends face appeared.

"Ah. Steven. How can I help you today?"
"Did you kill Myers?"
Yang's smile widened. "Security chief Myers was a very troubled man. Many personal problems. He came to me only hours before the incident to discuss them. I advised him to concentrate on his work, but he must have been more upset than I realized. A man should not let his mind wander when cleaning a shredder pistol. Very messy."
"Thank you."
"Certainly, Steven. Anything to help you."

Zale knew that he had just heard what Yang would testify if he was ever brought before a board of inquiry. And if Yang were willing to testify to it, there was surely evidence to back him up. Zale couldn't help but wonder, however, if Myers was as upset as Yang claimed BEFORE the two of them were alone together. Yang certainly had a way with people. Then Zale wondered if it really mattered. Myers had been an incompetent. If he were still in charge, the Unity would probably be in a million pieces by now. "If anybody can get us to Alpha Centauri, it's Sheng-Ji Yang," he acknowledged.

posted 12-23-98 04:46 PM ET            

"It ends now though." All of his calculations come to the same conclusion: we will not survive. Every time the formula is expanded and made more accurate as more variables are accounted for, the result is worse. "Hari Seldon at least had a chance to alter the results!"

With a sigh the professor turns from the rain and sits back at his computer. A quick glance at his mailbox shows 24 new messages.

1)[email protected] | RE: re: Worse news
2)[email protected] | Automatic out of office response
3)[email protected] | Kernel 12.3.201pre13
4)[email protected] | Kernel 12.3.201pre13 compiled - ready for reboot.
4)[email protected] | URGENT
5)[email protected] | gtk+4.3.12
6)[email protected] | gtk+4.3.12 compiled and installed
...

Zorloc smiled at the majordomo notices, "The world is ending but linux development keeps going. An idea better than humanity. Perhaps an alien race discovering the remains of our civilization, will find it useful."

"Hmm.. plal, who the hell is that? And why am I getting a notice from someone on the Unity team?"

From: P. Lal, Chief Medical Officer, UNS Unity.
RE: URGENT

Professor, you may not remember but we met at the Madrid Conference on the Future.

["Oh, yes. You are that prattling doctor that gave a lecture on "Cooperation Saving Humanity," that worked, NOT"]

I am sure you have heard of the rescent problems on hte Unity. There are now a couple of openings in our science committee. I would like you to join the crew. If you wish to accept you need to get to the Moses Lake Launch pad by 0600 tomarrow.

END MESSAGE

"What the hell. One in a million is better than one in 3.245x10E12342389! any day."

posted 12-23-98 04:51 PM ET            

You see there was Pete, Georgie, Dim and me, Alex, your humble narrator. We were on patrol in the entertainment district of Tycho Base during martial law. We were all dressed in the height of Morgan C. Security fashion: black jump suits, boots and gloves with layers of body armor making us look like wonderboys. The boots and gloves were weighted for the gravity and tolchock bonus, ha, ha, ha. We also carried flip horroshow, shredders, britvas, clubs and cattle prods to keep the lowly prolos in line, oh me brothers.

We were walking along, crasting a few abandoned shops, looking for some pretty polly as easy as kiss my sharries, when we came across this old malchick, hiding in an alley. He was dressed in the height of U.N. fashion, being some kind of aristo officer. But, yes, yes, yes, we had our orders to "question" suspects.

"Come on droogs" says I, "its time for the old twenty to one." Meaning we were to grab the vech and pound him with boots, clubs and fisties real horrowshow-like.

Greg Treestock heard a vicious shout, turned and saw four of M.C.'s black-shirted thugs bearing down on him. "I think it is time to check in with the Director General." Though Greg as he took off in a run toward the U.N. Engineering Center (Centre). Fortunately for Greg he still has his Earth-side stamina but the M.C. Security team was hindered by their weighted boots and a 6 month tour in lunar gravity. Greg made it to the U.N. building pulling away.

*Yes, this is a blatant rip off of Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange."

posted 12-23-98 05:38 PM ET            

"Yah, Mr. Zorloc it's the X320-Stilletto. The newest ship we got."

Professor Zorloc eye'd the co-pilot of the ship he was about to board ---Bad grammer, bad sign----

The Moses Lake Lauch Facility was a sprawling experimental launch site. Ever since the start of commercial transport to space the Moses Lake facility had been a prime site for testing new launch methods and craft.

To the south is the Gigantic Mag-5 which launched craft through magnetic propulsion -- It worked great, except any living thing on the craft launched was instantly killed by the mag forces.

To the north is the LBI facility. Although the acronym stands for Laser Based Initiative, it quickly became known as the Laser Brained Initiative after on the first launch of live passangers the laser shield on the spaceship failed and the ship was atomized by the laser.

To the east is the massive MSNBC-West Communications link. About the only thing in the area to still work...

"Well Mr. Z., I think it is about time we board."

It did not take long to board the Stilletto, especially since the professor only had two medium sixed cases. After securing the cases, in the passanger-access lockdown. Zorloc seated and belted himself. The launch was not scheduled for another half hour, so a nap seemed in order.

Just as his eyes begin to close the ship shudders, and alarm klaxons begin to sound. The co-pilot started climbing the railing to the cockpit past the professor, "Don't worry Z. The cap'n is already in the cockpit and is readying the ship to leave." Then into his commlink "Cap'n Mr. Z., is in his seat and properly secured. I'm on my way."

When the co-pilot reached the iris valve to the cockpit he punched in his access code (123456) and the valve began to open, stopped, and closed. "What the F*UCK!"

The ship launched.

As Zorloc is pressed deeply into the launch chair, the co-pilot makes a bloody mess at the back/bottom of the passenger area.

A couple minutes later the heavy hand of accelleration and gravity lifted. "What the Hell is going on"

"Sorry Professor, but we had to launch immediately. The Sword's of Christ decideced that the entire Pacific Northwest was populated with heretics."

"You said 'was'???"

posted 12-23-98 06:06 PM ET            

I just got out of a metting the Captain and Dr. Lal. Using what I know of the Unity Mission, its history, and my impressions of those two men, the odds of a successful mission are very unlikely.

The Captain is an decent person, but he is not a leader capable of handling a difficult crew.

Dr. Lal sparks my interest though. He nearly pleaded with me to be a force for stabalization on the crew. Uncertainty has plagued this ship and crew from the start. He has a passionate interest in holding things together no matter what. I remember that his speach at the Madrid Conference on the Future emphasized that only as a whole can issues be addressed. He has not changed much. I am supprised that he wanted me on the ship, especially since the paper that gave at the conference was "The Factional Evolution of Man: Conquest, Ideas, and Death for a Better Future."

On the other hand, he is compassionate and understanding, which can lead to weakness, he uses as a strength. He has an infectious passion for humanity. It is too bad that the UN but Garland in charge. Lal is a much better embodyment of their ideals.

So now I am now a Deputy Science Officer, which carries the rank of Lieutenant. My next meeting is to check in with the Chief Science Officer Yang. I have heard some odd rumors about his past.

posted 12-24-98 06:42 AM ET            

Mike slammed the emergency seal over the breach in the coolant system. Some coolant splattered on his jacket and he frantically shed it as the highly alkali coolant burt through it.

"There should be four more of them in there!"

Sparky was desperately trying to get the sleeping engineers out of their bunks and out of the area so they could seal it off.

"Damn Spartans" Mike heard one of the engineers muttering as he went past. He wanted to shout "We didn't do it we're trying to save you you ungrateful..." but he restrained himself. If he and Sparky hadn't been walking past here with their tools when the charge went off, this whole deck would have been flooded with the extremely poisonous coolant. Mike thought he could smell the acrid gas coming off the coolant even through his OxMask but he must have been imagining that. He hoped.

Sometimes it seems that this project is never going to get out of lunar orbit. He thought to himself. Just then Santiago arrived at his side. Mike nodded towards the engineers quarters. She helped Sparky with the rest of the engineers. The last four were choking into their OxMasks. They'd have to be released from the project, Their lungs would be too badly damaged.

Santiago was back by his side and she helped him secure a permanent patch on the pipe.

Then Santiago gave him the sign.

posted 12-24-98 01:05 PM ET            

It was getting to be the last call for passengers soon. Some people were dead from the new wars breaking out every hour on the hour it seemed, and they were having to find replacements quickly without some of the normal security checks, allowing even more Spartans on board. Still, there wasn't much time left.

Santiago had agreed with my plan on Gajic, and any displeasure at the delay on hearing it was overcome by the actual details. Now it was just a spider waiting for the fly to come to close to the web...

The case on Yang was still inconclusive and circumstantial, but still a good bargaining chip to use in a last ditch situation.

The litle "problem" with the fake Secretary General seemed to have faded away, thankfully.

posted 12-29-98 03:13 PM ET            

Last night while we were in lock down because of 2 seperate bombings on the ship, I tried to adapt the principles of Applied History to the Unity. Unfortunately I have to re-evaluate many of the variables. For example the Morden Chaos-Orthadoxy dynamic, does not seem to apply at all. On Earth, with increased chaos in the beta (intellectuals) or gamma (middle class) elements of society, the alpha (leaders) and delta (working class) elements of society push toward Orthadoxy, but if Alpha moves to Orthadoxy, any of the others could swing out to chaos. But on the Unity, right now the ratios of classes is way off. There on the command staff there are three Alpha-1f leaders (Zahkarov, Yang, Dierdre), one Alpha-1sq (Lal) and one Alpha-1r (Godwinson). This is a very high number of powerful leaders for the population. To the additional detriment of the mission one of the leaders is not the Captain (he seems to be an Alpha-2 or 3). Not good.

In a best case senario, nothing goes wrong on the way to Planet. We land and start up the new society. With my inversion of the Morden C-O, and my new values for RsubT and ER**G. Things could stay together for 100 years or so.

If any thing minor happens on the way to Planet or something of medium seriousness on Planet there is a 26% chance of factionalization.

If something of moderate severity happens on the way to Planet, or severe on Planet it jumps to 56%

If something severe happens on the way to Planet, there is approximately a 13% chance the crew will hold together.

If the captain dies before we land - 1.34*10**-25% or so...

With bombs going off every few hours, I doubt we will reach Planet unscathed.

Tonight I'll crunch the numbers on the results of factionalization. But there are so many unknowns that it will be hard.

[The ship shakes tremendously]

What the hell was that? Another bomb?

"This is the Captain. Due to our loss of contact with Earth and the increasing numbers of security problems, we have been given authority to start the launch countdown.

"All personnel slated for cryosleep in stage One will report to the cryobays. Stage Two will report in 3 hours. Please listen for further announcements."

Hmm.. I am in stage 5. That should give me enough time to figure out which faction to join....

posted 12-29-98 08:12 PM ET            

The mountain of work that was piling up in front of him was depressing. He had heard that Professor Zorloc had just been brought on board. Zorloc had some interesting methods of trying to quantify subjects which had previously been studied in only the most haphazard and undisciplined ways. Zale was skeptical of whether Zorloc's predictions based on large populations could be accurate, however, since even one individual was so difficult to predict (as Zale's efforts to try to find the subversive elements in the security force was proving). Zale would have liked to have been able to interview Zorloc himself, to get an opportunity to pick his brain, but he had other priorities.

posted 12-30-98 12:38 PM ET            

Some interesting pieces of information I have found recently. I've been hardened to the shock of things on Earth, and after hearing about the latest- well, it had to have been expected. Everyone knew that the freak explosion at the Maple Bridge Military Plant should have detonated the nukes stored there, but the government said that "excellent safety procedures" had prevented that. And proceeded to censor any reference that the reason that they didn't detonate was that they had been removed by a hostile attack party. All of which Pravin Lal and other free speech activists complained bitterly about. In any case, it seems that the so-called Christian States of America had decided to use those captured nukes and had nuked the Pacific Northwest to glowing radioactive ash for the glory of God. Which reminded me of a juicy tidbit I had on Psych Chaplain Miriam: She had been a member of it before it went extreme. Nothing like dirt on potential enemies, not that Miriam had any power on the ship. She wouldn't be a threat.

The ship is leaving within the next 24 hours. I'm going to have to execute my plan on waking the Spartans up early soon. My main fear is that I will be discovered out of my cryocell when I shouldn't be, despite Santiago's assurances that her Spartan patrol would be the one to check my cryobay.

I was rudely reminded of my other allegiances when I got a request from the Morgan Conglomerate- clearly something coming from the top- to secure a certain cryobay, the one I had moved the Renwick's out of due to earlier suspicions of it. My guess is that Morgan and his cronies are going to clear out the other resident's and put themselves on. Well, they better hurry, since the last shuttle from Tyco Base leaves in about 2 hours.

posted 12-30-98 04:09 PM ET            

Ok... Collect your thoughts.... List what you have now:

UN - The main group. Led by the Captain and supported by Dr. Lal. They will try to hold the mission together and work toward creating a cooperative free society. A good portion of the crew will follow the UN as long as one of the previous leaders survives. If the Captain does not make it to planet then this faction will probably be equal in size, or slighly larger than the others, otherwise a plurality of the crew will support the UN.

Underground (e.g., "Spartans") - This factions goal is to create a seperate, disciplined society to ensure survival. If the Captain makes it to planet this would be the major dissenting group increasing its size over what it would be if the Captain does not survive. But it seems that being smaller initially should allow this faction to maintain its homogenaity and thus more likely to survive.

After these primary groups there are four possible other factions which would be Castes separating themselves from the society:

Scientist/Technician - This would be the majority of the "Hard Scientists" and technical staff. Many of these people are left over from when the Russian's were responsible for the mission, so they do have an ethnic division as well. The most obvious leader is Proctor Zakharov, but I havenot met him and am thus unable to gage his loyalty and his vision of a new society. But from the little I have picked up from Lal, he is completely driven my scientific methodology. Which could make this society technologically advanced, but ethically challanged.

The Disenchanted - This group is made up of some of the technicians and many of the common laborer's that are already in cryo. these are the people that are searching for something new and different in a society, even at the cost of their liberty and individuality. Our XO, Mr Yang is the perfect leader for this group. Ed Steiner, one of the Assistant Proffessors that I worked with, did some research on Mr. Yang's experiments in mind control several years ago. Apparently, Yang was making progress before he was stopped. I have no idea why he was let on the ship, let alone put in the #2 slot. If the captain makes it to planet, Yang could keep this group within the UN and use it as a power base. If the captain dies, Yang may take the opportunity to lead his own society.

The last two groups are the Fundementalists and the Greens. Both are firm believers in a higher power, one a Deity the other Life. The Greens don't really have much of a chance surviving on their own, unless of course <chuckle> they can take advantage of some living power that is already on Planet. The Fundementalists though could be a strong power, with an ordered society and fanatic devotion, they could threaten anyone.

But I find it unlikely that these two factions will split off from the UN if the Captain is still in contol of the mission when we reach Planet. But then I don't know enough about Ms. Skye, the head of Xenobiology, to evaluate her.

Where the hell can I get some detailed psych profiles on these people?

<Computer> Detailed Psych Profiles are limited to Security and the Captain.

Hmmmm... Computer who in security is reviewing the security profiles?

<Computer> That information is limited to Security personell, the Capatin and his Executive Officer.

Let's see if being the Ship's Counselor has an advantage. Computer, list all security personnel with their counseling profile, and direct the info to pad 5.

<Computer> Processing. Done.

Let's see here who has socialogy or psychology experience. Ok that's down to 10. Hmm.. who has missed the most meals... Ah... Zale stationed in, of course, security records.

Computer, I would like to dictate a message for immediate priority delivery:

<Computer> Begin dictation.

posted 01-01-99 01:57 PM ET            

Well, not quite everything is done yet. I now have to escort Morgan to his quarters, when he technically doesn't have any and isn't supposed to be on the ship. Fortunately I had arranged a last minute arrival with some dummy ID's for him of people who actually were on the ship. Also, he came along in the last load. The security was a tad rushed and with my assurances, Morgan and his entourage came out fine. I noticed one member of the flock who seemed rather new, an interesting fellow I gave a nod at, but I failed to see his response, if any.

Not wishing to be seen too much around Morgan, I handed him a packet with instruction on all he needed to do. I also reminded him of the "reward" he had promised me when we reached Chiron. He would walk to the setup cryobay where arrangements had been made, with the help of other members of the MC who had also recieved orders. I wasn't entirely sure about the setup, but I hoped adverse affects to the other members of the cryobay would be avoided.

As i walked back, needing to do one last bit of business with Santiago before I did the deed, I happened to see Deidre Skye, . Always wishing to stir up a bit of strife among the crew, as disunity of opposition was always an ally of the CfS and I figured it would be no different with the Spartans on the Unity, I decided to tell her the little bit of information I had learned from peaking at the datalinks.

"Dr. Skye. I've heard much about you." She seemed to only take a passing glance and give a withering look that silently said "I have important things to do 3 hours before launch." I decided I needed to get her attention quickly. "I'm really not supposed to know this, but a friend of mine is one of Zakharov's engineers, and did you know that they found irregularities in the shield around the Hydroponics module? But Zakharov had them do a final check on the fuel storage rather than investigate more thoughouly."

"What? He did that? Thank you for that information indeed. And by the way, that's Miss Skye to you."

Hmm, it fits her that Skye wouldn't be enthusiastic about being called doctor. Makes her sound like Zakharov, who had opposed her appointment as chief xenobotanist and biologist. Eh, I think she was sufficeintly riled up to have a good debate with Zakharov in the Officer's Lounge. Her initial hostile reaction might have been due to my Morgan Conglomerate logo on my tie- but that's another story.

I had heard some reports of a possible outbreak of SMACA on the ship, but I was confident that of all the screenings done, the absolute last one that would be cut for time would be the SMACA immunization. We wouldn't want to bring our deadly diseases onto the new world, and I'm sure that Pravin Lal would see that these rumors remained exactly that- rumors.

posted 01-02-99 10:33 PM ET            

The sabotage problem was finally under control. There had been a few flareups when a few of his own security men had turned out to be traitors. Most of them had been tragically killed when one of their devices... acidentally... went off before they could get it into position. Zale was supposedly working overtime to clear the rest of the team, but Gordon was only prepared to feel relieved when everybody was in cryo-sleep, and the ship was clear of the solar system.

Gordon stabbed at the communications console. "Where's that last damned speeder? I want to lock this place down!" he yelled, his usually calm demeanor broken by the stress of the past few days.

"I'm sorry sir, their flightplan isn't very specific," responded the ensign on the bridge.

Gordon switched channels on the console. "Hodges, status report."

"Sir, we've got 65% in cryo already. 15% in final prep. The rest are officers, security, and techs, who won't be going under until we're clear. Scanner sweeps haven't picked up any suspicious activity, and patrols haven't reported anything out of the ordinary for 24 hours. It looks like things are finally calming down, sir."

posted 01-04-99 09:31 PM ET            

Zale opened the door and greeted his visitor. "Professor Zorloc! I'm Steven Zale. I've read some of your papers. Very impressive."

Zorloc smiled. There wasn't an academic around who didn't like that kind of ego-stroking. "From what I gather, your work is pretty impressive too."
"But I don't get published," Zale replied jovially. "We all toiled in obscurity over at the Atherholt Group. Would you like some coffee? I was just about to make some. Have a seat."

"Yes. Thank you," answered Zorloc, taking the chair. Zorloc wondered how he was going to broach the subject he had come here to talk about...
"You know," said Zale, putting the coffee on, "I was thinking recently that your results seem counterintuitive. Individuals are so hard to predict, but your analyses of large group dynamics have hit very close to the mark on a number of occasions."
This was going to be easier than Zorloc had hoped.
"That's actually what I wanted to talk to YOU about. You see, on Earth, there are many established patterns, a lot of social inertia. It isn't hard to predict some things, because individuals frequently have little effect over them. Institutions have been built up over the years whose sole purpose is minimize the impact of the individual. Investment clubs. Churches. The Kandeine-Tredderman administration. The retro-punk music scene. All of these things have taken on lives of their own. Their agendas are like freight trains -- the members can't abandon them because they move to fast and too powerfully. They're stuck on-board for the ride."

Zale hadn't expected such a colorful description from Zorloc, whose papers frequently contained more triple-integrals and problems that had to be solved by numerical methods than Zale had a desire to count. "But we're leaving all that behind," observed Zale.

"Exactly. You see, this mission is going to present a unique moment in human history. We'll still be around, but our institutions won't. The power of some individuals to effect changes in the population through the establishment of new institutions is incredible. But that means that these individuals need to be understood, so that we can understand the direction of our entire society.

Zale grinned. "And you figure that you can use the psych profiles to do that."
"Well... I..."
Zale chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint you, professor, but even if I could let you look at them, they wouldn't do you much good."
"And why is that?" probed Zorloc, put off more by the suggestion that his plan wasn't sound than by the fact that he wouldn't have the opportunity to carry it out.

"Well, there are several reasons. Firstly, a number of them are inaccurate. I'm sure you're familiar with the sabotage problems we've been having. Recently, we apprehended someone who was trying to blow up the fusion core. He figured that the Unity was a modern-day Tower of Babel, and he was going to hand deliver the fire and brimstone on behalf of God. You know what our glorious psych-chaplain corps had to say about this fellow? "Strong religious convictions indicate stability and reliability."

"Oh."

"And even if you can weed out the profiles that have been administered by incompetents, you still run up against the fundamental limitations. When we first started our broad-based psych profiling services over at Atherholt, we had the tests reviewed by some of the leading psychologists on the planet, and they all agreed that they were the best things money could buy. Business was great, until we figured out that the tests weren't any good. It seems that all we were able to do was accurately judge people's mental state while taking the test. It turns out that 99% percent of the time, though, you aren't actually taking a personality profile, so the results don't hold in everyday life. I think the coffee's ready."

Zale poured into the two mugs he had placed on the table, and dumped a teaspoon of sugar into his own. Zorloc was too interested in the conversation to think about his.

"Every revision since that first one has been designed to outsmart the test-takers, who are simultaneously trying to outsmart the test. In the most recent revision, we were even able to trip up Yang, but I'm sure he's got it cracked by now," he smiled. "But all of this sneakiness means that we gather less and less real information directly. We've got to judge personalities based on second and third order effects, at best. It's almost more art than science. It takes years of practice for even the most talented people to glean anything really WORTHWHILE out of these things." Zale tapped a few of the folders that were sitting on the table next to his coffee for emphasis.

"So you mean they wouldn't do ME much good," insinuated Zorloc.

"Well," answered Zale, "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I do this for a living, and I'M having a tough time figuring out who wants to blow up the ship, and who just wants to move to a new planet."

"But certainly, some people must be easier to analyze than others."

"Oh. Definitely. People with strong convictions, people who are ambitious or extremely self-confident. People with well developed societal roles. They're all easier to predict."

posted 01-05-99 02:48 PM ET            

After tossing the empty can in the recyc-depository, he moves to the locked storage bin. "Computer, access Storage Bin C5RJ-3412-3242-G5"

"Access code required"

"Name: Zorloc ID#: 456-35-9090 password: 'Four Horsemen'."

"Error, Insufficient name detected. Missing first or last name. List last name first then first name. If none present say 'none' at appropriate point."

"Damn piece of crap, the verbal security program is obviously old. Ok Access, Name: none, Zorloc ID#: 456-35-9090 password: 'Four Horsemen'."

"Access confirmed, opening Storage Bin C5RJ-3412-3242-G5"

Zorloc quickly grabs the smaller of three cases in the storage bin, sets it on the desk, and opens the top. "Beep, Wrrrr, Beep, Beep"

"Greetings Professor, The 12.3.201pre13 kernel has solved several minor memory leaks that caused the minor problems ..."

"Sorry to interrupt the analysis, Vader, but we don't have much time, and the future is at risk. Suspend all background processes. Set up an IR link with the Computer and get all of the info on the security systems of the Unity you can."

"Organic, hardware or software?"

"Software, especially the mail server."

"Accessing...The contract for internal communication software was awarded to MacroAction's SuperMail. The contract was awareded over the objections of the security and technology advisors, but the rest of the panel selected it because of it's ease of use and extended functionallity. SuperMail is known for making communications very easy, but this has led to several security concerns, because it can be vulnerable to an internal crack. It was also the ..."

"Stop. Is it vulnerable to the most recent 'Keeper'."

"Affirmative, but the use of a 'Keeper' will require some affirmative action on the part of the recipient. Additionally using a 'Keeper' against a UN system would be a Class 1 act of Espionage and could be considered Mutiny. Despite the UN's liberal leanings, mutiny in this case would require 'Death by Spacing'."

"Yea, I know, but it is the only way, I can get the information I need, and it will provide me with significant control over several necessary systems."

"Professor, for the 'Keeper' to do what you want, you would need to grab a high ranking officer."

"I know. Compile the 'Purity Test' program and embed the 'Keeper' in it."

"Confirmed. Compiling. Building. Completed."

"Link the 'Purity Test Keeper' to the email message, I am about to dictate to the local terminal.

"Confirmed."

"Computer, prepare for a dictated message for immediate delivery."

<Computer> Begin dictation...

------------------------------------

<Computer> Message received.

"Damn it can't they leave me alone for five minutes! Who is it from?"

<Computer> Professor Zorloc, subject: A Good Laugh.

"Display message"

"Captain Garland, I figured you would be reaching the breaking point. So I scrounged through my files to find a little relaxer. Take a couple minutes and relax while taking a Purity Test."

posted 01-05-99 03:34 PM ET            

Gordon eyed the speeder that had just landed in the Pod Hanger with incredulous suspicion. "That's one ugly speeder!" he said to himself. "Cover them." He ordered the two squads of Security he had brought along. He couldn't be too careful today of all days. The dozen shredder pistols and net-guns tracked every movement of the two U.N. officers as they disengaged themselves from the front seat of `Dodge Dart'.
Gordon made sure that their documentation matched the secure personnel files in Unity's shielded computer core before he released them, under protective escort, to their respective cryocell stations.
"I hope we weren't any trouble." Said Col. Treestock.
"Where's the nearest head?" Asked The DirectorGeneral.
"What the BLEEP was that!" shouted Kurn, one of the guards.
The remaining guards converged on the back seat of the speeder and dragged out the mysterious passenger.
"Where am I? I have got to get to the Unity right now! Get your hands off me you damn nazis!" Were the confused utterings from Gordon's newest prisoner.
"Shuddap! Who do you think you are? You are under arrest and will be spaced as soon as I can try you. And that should take all of ten minutes. Take him to the brig." Ordered Gordon.
The prisoner took in his surroundings for the first time and said, "This is the Unity? How did I get here? The last thing I remember was drinking Red Bulls and vodka at the I Club. When Michael Hefferan took the stage and started to sing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" I felt sick, left and went to sleep in the back seat of an antique car. That was strange too, come to think of it." The prisoner noticed the shredder pistols leveled at his stomach.
"Oh, by the way, I'm Roland Winkler, U.N. Attorney General assigned to the Unity project. I guess that makes me your boss, doesn't it? Now take me to my cryocell, I need a nap. Who ever heard of starting a new civilization without a well rested lawyer?"

posted 01-05-99 07:15 PM ET            

Santiago was typing away at the computer screen. "You're late," she said.

"Sorry. I was delayed a tad." I looked over at what she had on her computer screen. She was using the partial hack that we had gotten on the Unity's files.

"It is a good thing that you did not put that program in earlier. Warnings would have gone off that could have revealed every member of the Spartan operation who got an early wake-up call. The protection on this system is good, in its own way. It detects almost everything; it just doesn't always recognize the significance of it. Which is why those same warnings will still be logged when you put the CD in."

"Um... then won't we all get caught?"

"Nope. These are only warnings, remember- not enough to wake the crew. And since the UN has no staff on a constant, rotating duty- the smart thing to do- due to the inability to restart these one-shot cryocells after they're activated, these warnings will go permanently unread."

"Interesting... what exactly are you looking at now?"

"These Psych Profiles. They're Level A classification, but some member accessed a new batch recently to print them out, and they were in the RAM of their computer. They make interesting reading, despite only having the later R's to look at. Look at this one, Jason Ridley. He was the one who went at the fusion core-"

"with only a shredder pistol yelling he would cleanse the people of their sins. Yeah, they have- "Conclusion: Strong religious convictions indicate stability and reliability." Why did you even bother hacking into this garbage?"

"First of all: It was an opportunity I would not have normally do to its high level of classification. Second of all: I did not know it would be like that. Third of all: Knowing what your enemies think of you is all too important. And not all of these reports were done by that Psychologist. I was actually rather surprised at the group whose records best mirrored ours- the Psych Chaplains, who also did quite a few of these. Take these four profiles- Rhodes, Staniel; Rodgers, Missy; Rodriguez, Emilio; Ruark, Paul. Here are some good lines, from both the conclusion and the stats from each: Staniel Rhodes: "Hard worker, no known vices or other suspicious activity. perfectly normal." Missy Rodgers: "Secretary who fled to moon from Earth after losing job in the Panic of 2094. Climbed government ranks on Johnson Base suspiciously fast, but could be attributable to work ethic. Conclusion: Possible security risk, check carefully before granting admittance." Emilio Rodriguez: "Despite tough early life in slums of Sao Paulo, he rose to be own his own company, before its destruction in a terrorist incident. Large lay-away plan insured he remained financially sound, and soon joined the Morgan Conglomerate and advanced in the ranks there, where his department earned a reputation for efficiency and caution- which paradoxically insured he would never advance to high management at the adventurous MC. Conclusion: Despite possible suspicious activities, all evidence is that he is only a strong planner and worker, perhaps a little paranoid, and an asset to the mission." Paul Ruark: "Was born in Minnesota in 2076, but seemed to disappear until he reappeared in his 20's in Los Angeles, working a business with unknown backers that experienced unusual growth. He was one of the first to apply to the Unity when public applications became available in 2097. Conclusion: Lack of recorded earlier history, as well as unusual business success without unusual business ability and his claimed perfect moderation in political views, makes this a strong possibility of him working for the underground or for other groups."

"Well? I'm not quite familiar with everyone in the America's part of the Spartans, which is where all of these are from."

Santiago continued, seemingly ignoring me. "The first two reports were done by normal UN psychologists. The last two were done by psych chaplains. It should be noted that Staniel Rhodes and Paul Ruark both have connections with the Spartans- Rhodes is a grunt, and Ruark was a gang leader during those "missing years" before I humbled him and made him start a business front for the early days of my organization. I'm glad that they're only on the R's now- they won't get to the S's. But they might get to Ruark. And he is- expendable. I'll take care of that problem myself."

I honestly didn't know why she was so worried. "Why are you so worried now? He was let on the Unity, for heavens sake. I don't know why this guy downloaded all those files, but with lockdown in effect, most of the people they're looking at frozen already, and the vital crewmembers being frozen soon as well, what is there to worry about?"

"You remember when Yang wanted to see you? Yang is the kind of person willing to put a sticker on someone's cryocell and interrogate them after we land if he suspects them. And I don't want to give him that chance. The files were in one Mr. Zale's computer."

Having done research on Yang, I knew that he brought several new members to his security team after Myers' death. I realized that Zale was the one who was sitting in on my meeting with Yang. I hadn't read much on Zale himself, other than some very basic background. Damn! I wish I had. But no time for that now. Apparently, he was interesting enough that Santiago feared he could reveal an operative enough to kill him.

"I have to join my security detail in 15 minutes to start checking cryocells. We'll be doing your segment in about an hour. That means you should technically be in final prep now. I'd suggest you double check your own preparations for that- now. Bye."

posted 01-06-99 09:32 AM ET            

"Yes, sir."

-----------------------------------

"Attention. Attention. All Stage 5 personnel should be in their cryo-cells awaiting final cryo-sequence. The Unity will be departing the construction facility in exactly 9 minutes 41 seconds. All Stage 6 personnel should report to their cryo-bay immediately for cryo-prep. Stage 6 cryo-sleep will begin en route. All Stage 7 personnel should remain on alert. Any mission-critical failures should be reported to your technical liason immediately. Stage 7 cryo-sleep will begin once we are clear of the solar system. The Unity will be departing the construction facility in exactly 9 minutes and 18 seconds."

posted 01-06-99 05:05 PM ET            

They also had to make it through the Ort Cloud, which although it did not present much of a threat because the orbiting debris is moving at a low spead, but if the Unity smacks into a large enough chunk the structural integrity of the ship could be comprimised. --Enough worries, time to leave dock,-- the Captain thought to himself. "Ensign, notify ConDome that we will be leaving shortly. Confirm that they have us as green to go."

"Atention, this is the Captain. We will be leaving the construction facility soon. All command officers, not in cryo, report to the bridge immediately."

The Ensign at the Communication's console turned to the Captain, "Umm, excuse me Captain? But ConDome, I can't reach ConDome."

"What do you mean you 'can't reach' them? We are still connected to them via the umbilical."

"All my lights are green on the umbilical comm line, and I tried reaching them through Chanels C and G, but no one is responding."

--This is not a good sign--

Zakharov's voice breaks the quiet, "Will you shut up and let those with a grip on reality work!"

"I am sorry Dr., but I am just trying to do my job, and keep everyone focused on success," replied Miriam Godwinson. "Why do you have to violently react everytime I suggest that you leave your fears and concerns to God."

"Because I want to make it to Planet not Heaven," retorts Zahkarov. "If there was such a place."

"I am sorry to interrupt your philosophical discussion, but we have a problem. ConDome is not responding. We need to regain contact or we'll never get moving."

Zakharov smiles in his condescending 'all knowing way, "But Captain we are moving now. Of course we are still in dock but we are moving."

"I don't believe your cynicism is required or helpful, Dr.," said Lal as he enters with Drs. Skye and Yang. "We need to be constructive not destructive."

"Enough, " growled the Captain. "Zahkarov get me contact with ConDome."

"Sir, that's not necessary, I have contact with ConDome. Patching through," beamed the Ensign

"UNITY, this is Colonel Kurita. You need to get the hell out of here. Fighting has broken out here on the dock, they even stormed the Dome. If you don't leave now, you probably never will."

WHAM

"ConDome, what was that"

"Their trying to break the seal on the Dome. UNITY, get ready to leave under your own power."

"Confirmed ConDome. I need status reports, people. Zahkarov?"

"Ship is sealed. Engines are online in standby. Electrical is within tolerances. All computers are up and there are no serious warnings."

"Lal?"

"Stage six of cryo is complete. All cryo units are stable and looking good. Stage seven should go without a hitch."

"Skye?"

"All three greenhouse domes are fine."

"Miriam?"

"Nothing to report besides some lack of faith on the part of some of the crew, but God will manage."

"Yang?"

"Security sweeps have finished, we are ready to begin, Captain."

"Alright! Ensign, notify ConDome that we are green to go. Ask them to release the docking clamps."

"Affirmative, Captain. Docking clamps released."

"Engineering, isloate UNITY to internal power and communications. Release the umbilical."

"Aye, Kiptin." // sorry to funny to not do this.

posted 01-08-99 07:27 PM ET            

--I wish they would stop that.-- Colonel Kurita thought to himself. --They will never break through that seal by banging on it. All they are accomplishing is generating a massive headache for me.--

"Colonel, the Unity has cleared the superstructure, and is moving well under her own power."

"Very well, Leftenant."

<BAM><BAM><BAM>

"Unity, this is Colonel Kurita. May you have more success in the Alpha Centauri System, than Man has had in the Sol system. May god stand between you and harm in all the dark places you must walk."

"Thankyou ConDome, we would ----"

"Colonel we have lost Unity's signal."

"Is the problem on our side or Unity?"

"I can't determine that."

<BAM><BAM><BAM>

"Can you contact anyone, Leftenant?"

"No, Sir. All communications links are down. But then we haven't been able to get a link to Earth or Mars for quite awhile."

"I know. What is the current estimate on the insurection on the platform?"

"Nearly the entire non-military staff is in open revolt and half of the military staff."

"Perhaps Unity could get receive one last message from us. Computer, identify Kurita, Takahashi ID#: 991-23-3343 password: 'Cheakmate'..."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Ensign, what happened to our signal to ConDome."

"I'm sorry Captain, but they just don't seem to be sending or receiving."

"Well this is a fine start..."

A shaken Zahkarov blurts out, "Prepare to fire main engines."

"Belay that order! What's the meaning of this, I'm the Captain here?"

Zahkarov winces, "Sorry...Captain...But I am looking at a massive energy spike comming from the platform."

"Are they firing on us?"

Rolling his eye's, "No Sir, the weapons on the platform could not generate this kind of energy spike. The only explanation is that the reactors on the platform are approaching critical."

"Prepare to start main engines"

"Aye sir, engines primed, injectors ready."

The Captain fingers the main loudspeaker line, "ATTENTION ALL HANDS, brace your self for main engine start."

"OK, Procktor let's do this."

"Firing Engines."

<THUMP><BOOOM>

posted 01-10-99 04:19 PM ET            

<WHOOOOOOOSH>
I had reconnected to the security cameras as I waited in my little hiding cubbyhole. The Unity was finally leaving. But I really wish I had been secured better, because that had o have been a lot faster than what the Unity was certified for. I wonder what the rush was? I didn't have access to the cameras on the bridge, so I decided to view the external cameras and look upon Tyco Base, which was receding quickly.

It was boring. It looked like nothing was happening- so I zoomed in some. Sure enough, I saw men in uniforms running with guns into a door. I recognized them as the elite security team of the Base, the Black Watch- and they were clearly prepped for some serious action. This could only mean one thing- rebels or some other hostile force had broken into the Base. Perhaps to loot and take the trilllions of dollars worth of equipment off the Unity to use for their own cause. I panned the cameras some more- and I immediately realized the problem that the Balck Watch was about to face- rows upon rows of dropships, with the emblem of the Christian States of America on them. They were invading to take the weapons on the Unity and continue their reign of terror on Earth, having already blown up half the old United States. And I saw soldiers in uniforms pouring out of them toward the base. This was going to be trouble for them.

I panned again, but this pan, interesting enough, went over the cooling vents to Tyco Base's reactor- and then the screen went absolutely white all of the sudden, and a tremor wracked the ship.

"Ah, so that's why they were in such a hurry to leave. I fear what that tremor would have been like if we had left 10 seconds later..."

I panned the camera back to where the CSA dropships had been, and there was nothing but a large, smoking crater left of Tyco Base. Whoever had initiated the self-destruct sequence had succeeded in destroying their foe- and left a stunning example of the power of fusion reactors and explosives.

-----------------------------------
*NOT* from the memoirs of Alasair Legrand

Pravin Lal and the other bridge members looked at the crater that was left of what used to be Tyco Base. "We must always remember what we can do with these kind of weapons of mass destruction- let us remember that when we are building are colony."

Captain Garland replied, "Well, that won't be a problem now, since there will be no more hostile nations on Chiron, right? With no enemies, the temptation to use these weapons would be gone."

posted 01-11-99 06:01 PM ET            

I sat in front of the main computer on the bridge. All the security cameras watched me, and had watched me walk here, but I was safe, at least I thought I was. I had waited 3 hours fiddling with my computer in hiding, waiting. I decided that the time was now to do the deed.

I inserted the CD that contained the program to wake the Spartans up slightly early. It was remarkably anticlimatic. Warnings went off that A level security had been breached and accessed, but since it was only "Accessed," and not changed, the crew was not woken up. Of course it had been changed, but the whole genius of the hack was to make it look the same as before by encoding those commands as earlier, official ones. But I was piqued now- I could wander all around Class A security with the program on the CD if I could figure out how to isolate it, and I had plenty of time. Santiago's orders be darned on this one.

I started idly checking the logs of Cryocell block A3, which included Santiago and most of the security staff. Block A1 had the senior officers, A2 the science department, and A3 security & miscellaneous. There were several Spartans among the ranks that I glanced down, but some empty cells as well. Sigh. I also noticed one cell that had been empty, but now had "Roland Winkler" listed as the new occupant. I accessed the file on him... and found that his cryocell was to be turned off at 12:00 GMT, by a command initiated at the last minute by an anoynomous security officer. Remembering a conversation I had heard in the hallway that had passed next to my hiding spot, I realized that it was probably Commander Gordon, and sure enough he had not been too careful in concealing himself as the culprit- enough to fool the automated warning systems, but not enough to fool another full check on the computer's security, which of course he thought would not be done again- which is why he waited until the last minute to issue it. I then noted the real genius in his plan- the program deleted itself upon completion. It would look like just a standard cryocell failure.

I set about correcting this- a seemingly easy task, but it was hard. A lot harder than I expected, given my godlike expectations of control. I had to issue the command in such a way as to not wake up the other crew members, which meant studying the rest of the CD's code. And I was rapidly running out of time before his cryocell shut down.

At 11:30 GMT I was at the point of despair. High noon in London was fast approaching in which a seemingly innocent lawyer would die. I finally came up with a solution. I went down to Attorney General Winkler's cryocell and broke it open. Since he was in an improved version, I, without help, was able to revive him succesfully, after which I promptly shot him with my pocket tranquilizer. He would be out for about 12 hours, plenty of time for me to bootleg a new cell for him as well. I checked the computer records, and without my attempt to interfere by waking him up with the computer, the computer only recognized an unexplained breakage of his cell. I had saved one life today.

I needed to strech my legs. I got up and walked over to the block that Morgan had arranged to be in to inspect it myself. I had to steel myself against the site I saw. Morgan and his cronies were stashed away in custom built improved cryocells that I knew not how they were smuggled aboard, but a cursory inspection revealed that these were shoddily put together models, crudely upgraded Morgan Cryogenics X-3's to the new improved models that weren't built by Morgan's men. The Morgan Cryogenics cells had always been considered inferior to the top-of-the line Stobie Consortium models, and Morgan's enginners had clearly not done a bang-up job on upgrading to the new improved technology. Even while not being to much into the engineering department in my works at Morgan, I recognized that the main problem with these fosills still lay uncorrected- rampant power usage. I wondered how Morgan could get the power neccesary to his cryocell without changing the amount of power given to his grid on the powercell, which would set off several alarms... I went back to the bridge to have a look at that.

I started looking through the engineering logs on that Cryoblock. Nothing unusual. I switched to the medical logs. Nothing unusual. Looked at the Fusion Core power supply on the whole system. Nothing odd there, all the segments were getting their standard amounts of energy. But something had to be wrong- either the Core was giving more energy than it thought, or Morgan was siphoning energy from somewhere. But then I started to remember that something had looked a little odd in the medical reports section. I stared at it for a little while, then put up comparisons in the bioscans of 10 randomly selected individuals.

They were all _exactly_ the same, down to heartbeat and EKG's.

Knowing this could only mean one thing, I rushed back to Morgan's cryoblock and pulled up the metallic shrouds covering the other cells. The lifeless bodies of other unnamed colonists floated in them.

I swore that one day, Morgan would pay for this massacre. And I knew just the way to do it.

posted 01-12-99 07:27 AM ET            

The Shadow was such a melodramatic name. If he had chosen his moniker he would have chosen something cooler, but The Shadow was whispered about in Spartan circles. He was 10 ft high, completely invisible, strong as an elephant, fast as a Cheetah. That's what they said. Most didn't believe he existed. As far as he knew his existence was not known for certain beyond four Spartans and two of those were now dead thanks to Santiago.

Santiago, she had made him what he was today. Literally. Her support for several Middle Eastern and South American leaders had allowed her access to the best in illegal genetic and cybernetic research and she had had everything she could find built into Mike. He liked the name, he suddenly decided. If he was to exist he might as well have an identity. Even if it was stolen from a man he had killed.

He was faster, stronger, quicker and more agile than the majority of Humans. Some specialist athletes were better than him in certain areas but overall he believed he was without equal. The radiation distortion shielding gene and the spontaneous cell decay prevention genes which he had recieved hadn't been proven on humans before he recieved them but they worked. In the 10 years since he recieved them he had not aged. Not visibly anyway. He would stay awake for the whole journy to Alpha Centauri.

The years passed slowly. He read most of the Unity data bank, he spent long hours reading the works of great authors and poets, he completed the equivalents of degrees in Physics, Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Philosphy, Biochemistry. It was a long process and he forgot a lot of what he learned but, slowly, his knowledge increased. After the first year he had a close enough relationship with the ship's computer to override all the safety mechanisms and let himself access every system with full control. He spent days on end in the engine room working on an assault course. Over the moisture farm, under the air compressor, through the spinning fan blades, across the gap between the emergency fusion drive and the active drive spinning off the hot cooling plate on the top of that drive and over the cooling fluid intake.

Every time he took the assault course he had the computer record the time. From an initial time of one minute fourty one he eventually got down to one minute twenty dead. Some of that was gained in timing the start so he didn't have to pause at the fan, but a lot was just from repeat practice.

Once or twice a year he would go to the Cryobays and think about waking someone up to talk to. He never did. It would be so easy to wake them up but to get away with it would be difficult. He could override the computer warning systems on almost every system but the Cryobays and the fusion engine. Those along with collision warnings, would wake the essential elements of the crew up. That was the main reason Santiago wanted him here, if the essential crew were woken then so would the Spartans.

Mike would do anything for a chat with a real person. The computer was pleasant enough but it wasn't sentient. It played a good game of chess and had a lot of data to impart but it wasn't company.

Instead Mike threw himself into another lap of the assault course. He often thought he wanted the fan blade to hit him, but every time he leapt through the blades perfectly. His sense of survival was too strong. His mission too important.

That was his 2,567 time through the assault course. A new record time. He decided to allow himself a rummage through one of the crew's personal belongings. It always gave him a buzz.

The crew would probably notice that someone had been awake through the journey. It was impossible to live for fourty years without leaving a trace. The almost closed system would have very little in the way of waste to show for his stay but there would be things he had missed. Hopefully when the crew awoke they would be too distracted with all the landing preperations to notice.

A picture of Mum and Dad with child at graduation from what looked like an English university, nice looking girl. A picture of a dog. A small furry rabbit, fairly moth-eaten.
A long white gown in a box, looked and smelt old, late 1990s by the look of it. With it a small ring box with a diamond ring. U.N. Engineers certificate. Box of custom adjustable tools. That was all. Sometimes the contents of a crewmembers kit were really depressing. They reminded Mike of the things he never had. The family pictures were the worst. He reminded the computer to tell him not to look in the boxes again, knowing full well that it had warned him this time and he had ignored it and told it to forget the warning. He knew that next time he'd do the same thing again.

Perhaps he would try some of his beer. He was slowly getting the hang of brewing and this ale was particularly promising. He headed to the farm. He really would have to clear the stuff up soon but there were still several years to go. What's the hurry.