Peter Hamilton - Judas Unchained

Paula looked from one man to the other. “Who else knew?”

Wilson cleared his throat awkwardly. “Just the two of us.”

“Oscar, did you tell the Guardians what you’d found?” she asked.

“No. There’s been no contact since I returned from my scout mission.”

“Is there an access log for official navy records?”

“Yes,” Wilson said warily. “That was the first thing we checked, of course. Nobody has accessed this recording since we did two days ago. But then…”

“There’s no log entry of Oscar copying the files,” Paula presumed.

Oscar’s head dropped into his hands. “I’d been contacted by the Guardians. The Guardians! And I was making illegitimate copies of sensitive navy data right in the middle of Pentagon II, for Christ sake.”

“You erased the access log.”

“Yeah. With my code authority it’s not difficult. I know a few program fixes.”

“Don’t we all,” she admitted. “I could probably do a better job than you. But at least it does prove that someone can get in and out of your secure records without a trace.”

“What somebody?” Wilson challenged. “There’s just the two of us.”

“Three,” Paula corrected. “The High Angel sees everything that occurs within itself.” She looked up at the indistinct white ceiling, arching an eyebrow. “Care to comment?”

The High Angel’s colorful icon appeared in her virtual vision. “Good morning, Paula,” it said.

Wilson flinched. He’d obviously forgotten just how pervasive the alien starship’s attention was. Oscar’s face was red with guilt.

“Do you know who altered the official recording?” Paula asked.

“I do not. I see within myself, but your electronic systems are independent and heavily encrypted, especially the navy network. I have no way of knowing who accessed the official recordings.”

“Did you see the official recording which Oscar and the Admiral played in here two days ago?”

“I saw the images produced by your holographic projector. I cannot vouch where they originated from inside your network.”

A very legalistic answer, Paula thought, but the giant alien starship was correct. It couldn’t prove the origin of the images. “Thank you.”

“So what does that tell us?” Oscar asked petulantly. “We’re royally screwed.”

Paula took a moment to compose her thoughts. “First option, and the simplest: that this office is not totally secure, and a Starflyer agent found out about your discovery. The records were subsequently altered to remove the dish deployment. Second option: one of you two gentlemen is a Starflyer agent, and altered the official recording. That option effectively means you, Admiral.”

“Now just a goddamn minute—”

“Third option,” she said forcefully. “That both of you have conspired to produce a bogus recording to discredit myself and anyone else opposing the Starflyer.”

“If that’s true, why are we telling you that what we saw got altered on the official recording?” Oscar said.

Paula nodded reasonably. “Good point. I listed them in order of probability.”

“Well, I’ve got another one for you,” Oscar said. “That the Primes, the Starflyer if it exists, and the High Angel are all conspiring against the human race.”

“Yes,” Paula said. “If that’s so, then we’re in more trouble than I thought. A lot more trouble.”

They all paused, waiting to see if the High Angel would refute the claim. It was silent.

“It’s got to be the first one,” Oscar said. “We know the Starflyer infiltrated the navy right from the start. Son of a bitch, any of us could be its agent.”

“But we’re not,” Paula said. “Don’t let paranoia take over. Look at it this way, you know you’re not a Starflyer agent.”

“How does that help?”

“It’s a start. You have to work on the assumption that not everything you do can be sabotaged. Plan your actions very carefully.”

“Right, so we repair the official recording.” Oscar gave Wilson a defiant glance.

“I can’t permit that,” the Admiral said. “It compromises the whole allegation.”

“He’s right,” Paula said.

“But we have to,” Oscar said. “It’s the only proof we’ve got. My copy is the genuine record. You can’t let the Starflyer escape on some smartass lawyer technicality. For fuck’s sake, this is our future as a species we’re talking about.”

“You know for certain that the copy is real,” Paula said. “So does the Admiral because he saw the official recording before it was doctored. I, however, do not know for certain. I suspect it might be real, but that isn’t good enough.”

“I don’t believe this! I have genuine evidence that some bastard traitor was on board the Second Chance, and I can’t use it? The original recording was altered.” He gave Wilson a pleading glance. “You know that all we’d be doing is repairing the Starflyer’s sabotage.”

“If the provenance is faked, the evidence is worthless,” Paula said.

“Son of a bitch, you can’t be serious. We can blow the Starflyer out of space with this. Everyone would know it exists.”

“I would not accept a substitute recording, no matter how noble your intentions,” Paula said. “I would have to inform any authority you went to that it was not genuine.”

“Both of you!” Oscar growled sullenly.

It wasn’t hard for Paula to work out what he was thinking. Option five: he was the only innocent one.

“The Starflyer hasn’t been entirely successful in this venture,” Paula said.

“It might have avoided exposure, but we ourselves now have further evidence it is real.”

“What fucking use is that?” Oscar demanded. “You just said we can’t use it.”

“Not publicly, no.”

“Further evidence?” Wilson asked sharply. “You knew already?”

“I strongly suspected, and have done for some time now. I’ve amassed a great deal of circumstantial evidence; but again the problem is that it’s not sufficient to go to court with.”

“Is that why you wanted me to pursue the Mars case?”

“Yes, Admiral.” She gave Oscar a steady look. “It could have got me closer to them. I still don’t have any access route to the Guardians. If I did, and we shared information, they might be able to help me trace the Starflyer.”

“When they get in contact next I’ll tell them,” Oscar said in defeat.

“They probably won’t want to talk to me,” she told him. “But try and persuade them anyway. Try very hard. It is extremely important that we work together on this.”

“Sure thing.”

“What the hell do I do about the navy in the meantime?” Wilson asked.

“We’re completely compromised.”

“I don’t think there’s much that can be done. Obviously you’ll have to increase security, but there’s no way the Starflyer can prevent the major actions you’re undertaking. There’s too much political, fiscal, and physical inertia behind the navy.”

“But it can tell the Primes everything. We’ve already seen it can communicate with them.”

“Even if the Primes knew the exact time the navy ships are due to arrive at Hell’s Gateway, would it make any difference? Really? They know we will attack them there at some time. Their defenses will be as strong as they can conceivably make them. They’ve seen our weapons technology in action. Nothing has changed.”

“The strength is in the details,” Wilson said. “If they know exactly what we can do, they’ll be able to counter it.”

“They know what we’re doing on the Lost23, yet that insurgency campaign appears to be remarkably successful.”

“Yeah, maybe, but this is one weapon type we’re using. Neutralize that and we’re screwed.”