The Swarm (108 page)

‘Yrr-scent?' asked Weaver, indicating the test-tubes.

‘Yes - we'll be sprinkling a few drops of it into the tank this afternoon. Who knows? Maybe we'll persuade those cells to aggregate. If so, our theory will be gospel, so to speak.' Oliviera glanced around the lab. ‘You haven't seen Sigur, have you?'

‘I was just chatting to him on the flight deck. He's had some interesting ideas about the next message. It should make life easier for Sam. Anyway, I'll come back later.'

‘No problem.'

Weaver considered. She could take a look round the hangar deck, but if Johanson's suspicions were right, she would only draw attention to herself. Besides, the forbidden door was scarcely going to open while she was snooping around outside.

She continued down the tunnel to the well deck.

The basin was almost full, the remaining technicians from Roscovitz's team supervising the process. She spotted Greywolf and Anawak in the water.

‘Have you let the dolphins out?' she called.

Anawak hauled himself out. ‘Yes.' He walked over to her. ‘What've you been up to?'

‘Not much. I think we're all trying to gather our thoughts.'

‘We could do that together, if you like,' he said softly.

She met his gaze and realised just how much she wanted to throw her arms round him. To forget the whole awful business and do what should have been done a long time ago.

But none of them could escape the situation. And there was Greywolf, who'd lost Licia…

She gave a fleeting smile.

03 LEVEL

Peak and Johanson made their way up through the vessel, cut across part of the hospital and went down a passageway. They turned off to the side, and came to a door.

‘What do you call this place, anyway?' asked Johanson, as Peak's fingers darted over the keypad. It made an electronic beeping noise, then the door swung open. The passageway continued on the other side.

‘That's the CIC overhead,' said Peak.

Johanson tried to get his bearings. It was difficult to picture the layout of the vessel. If the CIC was above them, the secret lab was probably underneath.

They stopped in front of a second door. This time Peak had to scan his retina before they were allowed in. Johanson stepped into a room almost identical to the CIC, even down to its electronic hum. There was a low murmur of voices. At least a dozen people were at work. Monitors lined the walls, showing satellite images and footage from cameras - sections of the vehicle ramp, Buchanan and Anderson in the bridge, the flight and hangar decks. Johanson also spotted Crowe and Shankar in the CIC, Weaver talking to Anawak and Greywolf in the well deck, and Oliviera working in the lab. Additional monitors showed the insides of all the cabins, including his, the camera mounted above the door. He must have given them some great footage, delivering his monologue from the centre of the room.

Li and Vanderbilt were sitting at a large table lit from below. The commander-in-chief stood up.

‘Hello, Jude,' Johanson said cheerily. ‘Nice place you've got here.'

‘Sigur.' She smiled back. ‘We owe you an apology.'

‘Oh, don't mention it.' Johanson marvelled at his surroundings. ‘I must say, I'm impressed. I guess all good things come in twos.'

‘I can show you the schematics if you like.'

‘I'd settle for an explanation.'

‘And you shall have one.' Li did her best to look sheepish. ‘But, first, let me assure you of how deeply sorry I am about the incident that led you here. Rubin should never have hit you.'

‘I'm not interested in what he did. What's he doing
now?
What's he up to in that lab?'

‘He's looking for a toxin,' said Vanderbilt.

‘For a…' Johanson swallowed. ‘A toxin?'

‘Come on, Sigur.' Li wrung her hands. ‘We couldn't rely on resolving this peacefully. I know how terrible this must sound - as if we've been operating behind your back and abusing your trust, but…well, we didn't want to push you in the wrong direction. To learn more about the yrr, it was imperative to get you working on a peaceful solution. And you've all done well. But you'd never have made such headway if we'd told you we were developing a weapon.'

‘What weapon?'

‘War and peace are two different ballgames. If you're working towards peace, it doesn't do to be thinking of war. Mick's exploring the alternative to peace - with the help of your research, of course.'

‘He's developing a toxin to kill them?'

‘Would you rather we'd commissioned
you
to do it?' said Vanderbilt.

‘Now, look here,' said Johanson, ‘our brief was to make
contact
. To
persuade
them to halt the attack. Not to destroy them.'

‘You're a dreamer,' Vanderbilt said contemptuously.

‘But we can do it, Jack. For God's sake, we can…' Johanson was dismayed.

‘You can, can you? How?'

‘We've learned so much in so little time. There's bound to be a way.'

‘And if there isn't?'

‘We could have discussed it together. I thought we were a team.'

‘Sigur.' Li looked serious. ‘There's no clear provision for what we're doing in the UN resolution. I'm well aware that we're supposed to be making contact - and that's what we're trying to do. On the other hand, I don't think we'd cause anyone much heartache if we
wiped out the enemy. Don't you think it's an option we need to consider?'

Johanson stared at her. ‘Well, yes - but why the charade?'

‘Because high command doesn't trust you,' said Li. ‘You might make a fuss. People get their ideas about scientists from the movies. They think scientists are intent on protecting and studying other life-forms, even if they turn out to be evil and dangerous…'

‘The movies? The kind where the army blows up everything in sight?'

‘That proves our point,' said Vanderbilt. He ran his hand over his belly.

‘Please be reasonable, Sigur…'

‘You're telling me that you went to all this trouble just because you thought we'd react like characters in a film?'

‘No,' said Li, firmly. ‘Of course not. It was a question of focusing your attention on finding out about the yrr and making contact.'

Johanson's hand swept round the room, taking in the banks of monitors.

‘So why are you spying on us?'

‘Rubin made a mistake that night,' Li said insistently. ‘He had no right to hit you. Our surveillance systems are here for your safety. We kept the military side of the mission secret because we didn't want to unsettle the rest of the team and distract you from your work.'

‘And what exactly is the purpose of our work?' Johanson was almost touching Li, staring into her eyes. ‘To make peace - or be duped into providing you with all the necessary information to launch a military offensive that you've been planning from the start?'

‘We had to keep both options open.'

‘How far has Mick got with the military one?'

‘He's had a few ideas that seem promising, but nothing concrete.' Li took a deep breath. ‘I'd like to ask you in the interests of international security not to tell any of the others what you've heard. Give us time to tell them ourselves. It would be wrong to jeopardise their work when billions of people are depending on it. Soon we'll be able to cooperate as one team on both options. You've achieved the seemingly impossible - you've given our enemy a face. Once the message is ready, there'll be no more need for secrecy. And when we start working together on a weapon, we'll do so in the hope that we'll never have to—'

‘Do you know what, Jude?' hissed Johanson. He was so close now that there wasn't room to pass a hand between their faces. ‘I don't believe you. As soon as you've got your bloody weapons, you're going to use them. Don't you see what will happen? They're
amoebas
, Jude!
Millions and billions of single-cell organisms
. They've been around since the beginning of time. We haven't even begun to understand their role in our ecosystem. There's no way of knowing what will happen to the oceans if you kill them. There's no way of knowing what will happen to
us
if you kill them. But quite apart from anything else:
we won't be able to stop what they've started
. Are you too blinkered to see that? How do you think you're going to get the Gulf Stream flowing without the yrr? What are you going to do about the worms?'

‘When we've finished with the yrr,' said Li, ‘we'll start on the worms and bacteria.'

‘What? You want to pick a fight with bacteria? This whole planet is made of bacteria! You can't seriously intend to exterminate microbes. Exactly how deluded are you? You might think you rule the world, but if you were to go around exterminating microbes, you'd kill this planet. You'd be the ones destroying the Earth, not the yrr. You'd wipe out all the marine life and then—'

‘So darned what?' Vanderbilt erupted. ‘You pathetic, ignorant, stupid, know-it-all asshole of a scientist. Who gives a toss if a few fish die, so long as we survive—'

‘But we won't!' Johanson was yelling now. ‘Don't you get it? Life is interconnected. And we can't fight the yrr - they're superior to us. Fighting microbes is futile. Even normal viral infections defeat us - but that's not the point. Humans only survive on this planet because Earth is ruled by microbes.'

‘Sigur…' Li implored him.

He turned round. ‘Open the door,' he said. ‘As far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over.'

‘Fine.' Li nodded, tight-lipped. ‘Show Dr Johanson out, Sal.'

Peak hesitated.

‘Is there something wrong with your ears, Sal? Dr Johanson has expressed his wish to leave.'

‘Are you sure we can't change your mind?' said Peak, sounding helpless and strained. ‘Then maybe you'd see that it is the right decision.'

‘Just open the door, Sal,' said Johanson.

Peak stepped forward reluctantly and pushed a switch on the wall. The door slid open.

‘And the other door, if you don't mind.'

‘Of course.'

Johanson walked out.

‘Sigur!'

He stopped. ‘What now, Jude?'

‘You've accused me of failing to see the consequences of my actions. Who knows? Perhaps you're right. But make sure you face up to the consequences of yours. If you tell the others, you'll endanger their efforts to make contact. Maybe we didn't have the right to lie to you in the first place - but you need to consider whether you've got the right to tell the truth.'

Johanson turned round slowly. Li was standing in the door of the control room. ‘I'll certainly give it my careful consideration,' he said.

‘Then let's strike a deal. If you hold off until I've had time to find a solution, we can talk it through this evening. And, in the meantime, neither of us will do anything that might cause problems for the other. Can you see a way of co-operating with my proposal?'

Johanson's jaw was grinding. What would happen if he dropped the bombshell? What would happen
to him
if he turned her down point-blank?

‘Done,' he said.

Li smiled. ‘Thank you, Sigur.'

Weaver

All things considered, she would have preferred to stay on the well deck. Anawak was still doing his best to lift Greywolf's spirits, which made her feel doubly disinclined to go. Her feelings for one man made her want to stay with him; the grief of the other made her reluctant to leave. She couldn't bear to see Greywolf so overwhelmed with sorrow. Yet what Johanson had told her was even more disturbing. The more she thought about it, the more ominous his memories seemed. Deep down she felt that they were all in grave danger.

And by now Rubin would be back at the lab.

‘I'll see you later,' she said. ‘Stuff to do.'

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she knew they sounded false. Too casual.

Anawak's brow furrowed. ‘Stuff?'

‘Oh, you know, bits and pieces.'

She was rubbish at this kind of thing. She hurried up the ramp and into the passageway. The door to the lab was open. As she walked in, she caught sight of Rubin talking to Oliviera. They were standing by one of the benches. Rubin turned to her. ‘Hi. You wanted to ask me something?'

Weaver pushed the switch on the wall, so that the door closed behind her. ‘I wondered if you could explain something.'

‘You picked the right man.' Rubin grinned.

‘That's good to know.' She joined them. Her eyes scanned the bench. All manner of equipment was littered over it, including an upright holder filled with scalpels of varying sizes. She said, ‘I don't suppose you'll have any trouble telling me why there's a hidden lab up there, what you're doing in it, and why you knocked out Sigur?'

Hangar Deck

Johanson was seething with rage. He was too furious to know what to do with himself, so he ran to the hangar deck and inspected the wall. In his memory he knew exactly where the door was, but there was still no trace of a camouflaged passageway. It was a waste of time looking for it: Li had already admitted that the lab existed. But he wasn't prepared to let it lie.

Suddenly he noticed long streaks of rust in the grey paint of the bulkhead. Or, rather, he'd always known that they were there, but he'd never paid any attention to them because peeling paint and corrosion were not unusual on a vessel. Now it dawned on him that rust had no business on a new warship - and the
Independence
was brand new.

He took a few steps back. The pipes on the left stretched up along the bulkhead, leading to a long streak of rust. Above that was a fuse box, surrounded by flaking paint.