NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (27 page)

I studied maps of the university and took note of the different corridors that led into buildings near the information centers. I tested these escape routes several times to make sure I could quickly get in and out without a problem. I also studied the rooms along these corridors in case I needed a place to hide. 

I scanned the network in the same way. It is funny how closely the two were correlated to each other. I found paths where it would be easy to move, and closed paths that I could easily break through. I also identified multiple places where I could temporarily hide information if needed.

The pain in my legs disappeared after two weeks. Walking in the streets finally became comfortable. I rented a small car and repeatedly drove the streets between the city, the university and the airport. I measured the traveling time at different times of the day. I entered the transportation site to learn about the traffic loads along different roads and built several more escape plans for getting quickly away from the university.

Mampas airport was like a small city. It had its own police force with its own rules, and workers who felt like they were citizens of a separate nation. The airport had three shopping centers that were just as big as those in the city. The size of the airport helped me internalize the meaning of a metropolis. Mampas was a transportation hub for this side of the galaxy. Everyone who arrived in this part of the galaxy landed there as if it was the last gas station on the edge of the cosmic desert. I understood how important Mampas was when I realized that although smaller then Seragon, all of its major airports were as big as the ones on Seragon.

Three Naanite months after arriving on Mampas I felt completely comfortable, both physically and mentally. My language skills were sufficiently improved that someone in the hotel told me I had only a little Seragonian accent, like one of the guests from Seragon who visited the place from time to time.

I started testing the vigilance of the network from the information center at the university. I started to penetrate the shopping centers and some of the private organizations around the city. After every infiltration I left quickly and waited to see if anyone responded. No one ever did. I gradually worked my way up to breaking into protected sites. When my self-confidence was high enough I broke into the government offices. Even that went without notice. Finally I expanded my search all the way to Seragon. I snooped around the information circles on the government sites, and several times I surfed towards Shor's hidden door. I was happy to see that it was still there.

The academic year ended. I decided to wait for the students to return in order to take advantage of the noise and chaos they created in the university corridors and in the network. I enrolled as a first year student under the second false identity the Doctor had arranged for me and received a temporary student ID card that allowed me to access most of the services offered by the university. 

I searched the flight schedules and found a shuttle that was on its way to Mampas from Kartik. It was scheduled to undergo a few days of maintenance before moving on. Naan was its first stop after the maintenance work was completed. It was the best opportunity I could find given the time window I planned to use. I was finally ready.

  The day arrived. I sat in front of a terminal at one of the information centers on the university campus and looked around at the young students filling the tables around me. Most of them were wandering around in search of a free terminal. They were all busy talking loudly about their courses and about unworthy lecturers who had lost their passion for teaching.

I wore a hat and a white shirt that was made of a fluorescent material that made it glow even during the day. I surfed around aimlessly for a while and tried block out the noisy environment. When I felt comfortable I approached Seragon and exposed the door. I didn't go in. The first time I’d been there I hadn't known I was entering a minefield, but now, with what I knew about Shor, I feared that every step might alert them to my presence. My stomach began to turn over, and the commotion around me distracted me again.  

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and forced myself to focus on the terminal. Again I surfed and when the door opened I went in. I fed in the information we had put together about the plague and Shor asked me to wait.  I waited. It was excruciating. The passing seconds frayed my nerves. Several Controllers were sitting at terminals on a raised dais at the back of the communication center. Others were walking along the banks of terminals.  They hadn't noticed anything yet.

“Is the plague genetic?” A question suddenly popped upon my screen. 

I was surprised by the question. It was a great question but this was the reason I had infiltrated Shor. No one knew the answer. As far as I knew Daio, Dug, and me were the only foreigners on the planet. I’d gotten sick, but it still wasn't clear if it was related to the plague.

“Unknown,” I answered.

A second passed and Shor again asked me to wait.

“Does the cloud eruption also happen at other water reservoirs?” A new question appeared on the screen.

I gritted my teeth. This was a good question as well, but I didn’t have the answer to it either. The Doctor and his incompetent helpers appeared in my head and I hurried to dismiss them.

“Unknown,” I answered and was asked to wait again.

I looked around, the noise suddenly flooded in on me.

“How much time passed between the cloud eruption and the plague?” asked Shor.

How much I wondered. I could only estimate. “A few Naanite months,” I answered.

Again I waited.

“What is the average age at death of the diseased?”

I didn't have an answer to this either. Most of them were young but I wasn't sure. The whole lone of questioning was giving me a bad feeling. Was it possible that after all this effort I was not sufficiently prepared?

“Most of them are children,” I answered and was asked again to wait.

“Has a medicine been tried based on this…”

A string of letters and numbers appeared on the screen. I smacked my head with both palms in frustration.

“Unknown,” I replied. 

Again I was asked to wait, but my unease was so great now that I thought of immediately withdrawing from Shor and running out of the place. Somehow I didn’t, and a very slow minute passed. Finally my neck sensor vibrated and Shor output a short list to the screen. I scanned it rapidly and the word “options,” caught my eye. 

I didn't have time for a closer look. I quickly saved the list onto a memory card and erased the information I’d fed into Shor. I scrambled a few parameters into its secondary programs hoping to confuse it and cover my tracks. When I started to hop between information circles moving away from Seragon the transition speed suddenly slowed and my movement became heavy. I threw out baits all over, trying to lose myself among the other surfers.  My surfing speed increased and I felt I might just get away. 

I surfed out of Seragon, and rushed back to the information circle of Mampas. The surfing was smooth and the network looked calm, but as soon as I penetrated the information circle of the university a deafening alarm went off in the building. I started to erase every bit of information that was associated with my face, my name, and in parallel, as if I was writing with both hands in different languages, I scrambled into the local network and threw out more baits in the nearby information circle.

The students were already up on their feet, and starting to move toward the entrance raising their voices in anger at what seemed to be a drill. I stood up and let the flow of people sweep me towards the exit. The exit became clogged with people and our movement slowed to a crawl. Suddenly policemen appeared at the front of the building. They formed a human wall and told everyone to move back. The movement toward the exit completely stopped and the confusion and the noise grew. The students surged forward and tried to break through the line. The policemen lifted their weapons and pointed them at the crowd.

I shoved my way to the stairs and went down to the lower floor where the information center offices were. I knew that the office at the end of the corridor belonged to two members of the center who were still on vacation despite the start of the new academic year. I went in and closed the door behind me. Rushing to the window I slid it up. The window was at ground level behind some bushes that surrounded the building. I went outside, closed the window, and walked along the building hidden by the bushes. In minutes I reached a trail that connected the building to the back door of the building next to it. 

I could still hear the commotion behind me, but I didn't look back.

“Stop,” I heard someone shout. 

I ignored him, and continued to walk towards the door. A familiar buzzing of wings came to my ears. My heart was going crazy and I was breathing so fast that I force myself to relax. I widened my legs to the sides and started to run in an odd way. I’d seen once in the network that running in this way prevented Flyeyes from identifying you by your style of walking. 

“Stop,” he called again.

I could tell he was moving fast by the sound of his steps. I opened the door, closed it behind me without looking back, and walked into a corridor.  There were service rooms to the left and a bathroom to the right. I pushed the bathroom door open, went in and closed the door quickly behind me. I went into a booth, locked the door behind me, and immediately removed the hat and my glowing shirt. I was wearing a dark shirt underneath. I pushed them behind the water tank, unzipped my pants and peed.

The bathroom door slammed open. I flushed, opened the door, and went out, arranging my pants. A policeman stood there staring at me, and a Flyeye hovered above him.  I turned my hips to the side while zipping and tucking in my shirt. The Flyeye flew quickly over to the toilet booth, made a quick turn and faced me.

“Did you see anyone?” asked the policeman.

“Anyone?” I asked trying to sound confused despite the Flyeye in front of me.

“Did someone come in here?” he asked, raising his voice angrily.

I widened my eyes, trying to look completely surprised and looked around me. The Flyeye tilted downwards slowly and scanned me.  I tried to keep calm but nevertheless my heart was racing and my face started to get hot. I knew the Flyeye sensed my fear but I also knew that any normal person would fear a Flyeye facing him, even if he were completely innocent.

The policeman said something and the Flyeye moved towards the ceiling.

I walked to one of the sinks and started to wash my hands. The policeman open the bathroom door and the Flyeye sprang outside. From the mirror I noticed he glared at me. I wiped my hands and looked at my face on the mirror. I leaned forward as if I saw something in my refection.

When he left I leaned on the sink and let out a silent sigh of relief. I washed my face to cool myself down a bit and went back to the same door I came in and walked outside. I followed the trail leading to the information center, as calmly as I could, and approached the policemen surrounding the main entrance. I was relieved to see they no longer were pointing their guns at the students.

Dozens of people were gathered on the lawn some distance behind the police line. A policeman stood in front of them and told them the building was closed until further notice. I joined the gathering and stood in front of the policeman looking at the building. A few seconds later I wandered away with a few other students.

The university was usually mostly open space, but now, as if in the middle of a major security drill, where everyone knows what's going to happen, blockages appeared at the entrances and policemen started to flood the campus. Only it was no drill. None of the students or faculty members knew what it was all about and how serious things were.

I walked to one of the entrances and noticed a long line of people snaking back from it as I approached. Flyeyes hovered over them. From time to time one of them would dive down to face one of the people and a policeman would walk over and start interrogate him. I had known getting into Shor would not be easy and that I would find it hard to get out cleanly, but now that I had time to think about it, I needed to analyze the details of my retreat. I thought back to those critical seconds. The surfing delay had stopped every time I threw baits, but I didn’t think they’d worked properly. It seemed like whoever was after me had allowed me to flee so they could trace me back to the access point I was using. That could explain all of the commotion on the campus.