"There are a few details about this mission which I have not so far revealed," he said. "But the time is now right. The original mission was to recon the Mound, discover what it is, and report back. If the Legion had the resources and if the situation justified it, a stronger force would then attack the Mound. That was the original mission. The Legion simply wanted to know what the mounds are, what they do. A simple recon mission.
"Shortly before we left, the mission changed. As you know, the O's have built plenty of mounds on Uldo. And as our offensive penetrated into the death zone, something curious happened to the mounds. Starships came out of them—Omni starships. Camo doors opened up near the top, and out of every mound a single starship exited, and flashed on up through the at and escaped, out to the vac."
We listened, completely silent.
"That happened to every mound on the planet, except for one—this one."
"You mean the ship is still in there?"
"That's what the Legion thinks."
"Deadman! An Omni starship!"
"Exactly," Snow Leopard said. "An Omni starship. We've been fighting the O's for hundreds of years and never seen the inside of an Omni starship. The damned things detonate when you hit them. If we can seize this one and secure it for the Legion, it could change the course of history. It could win the war for us—it might actually ensure the survival of our species. There's simply no way to stress how important this could be."
"But it might not even be there, Snow Leopard," I objected. "Maybe there is no ship. Maybe it left already, if there ever was one."
"It's possible, Thinker—but we think it's there. The exterior configuration of the mound changes slightly when a ship is launched. This mound hasn't changed. It looks like it's still inside."
"Good Lord!" Merlin exclaimed. "An O starship! Well, you've got my interest!"
"The mission," Snow Leopard said, "is to penetrate the Mound and seize the ship, if it's there, and insure it doesn't leave. Cripple it, if necessary."
"Good Lord!"
"We have no idea what else might be in the Mound. Our offensive has not yet overrun any other mounds, so this is a first. You should also know that Cinta was assigned to us because she is a psycher of extraordinary abilities. With her along, our chances of survival against the O's psypower are increased. Of course she can't counter them—nobody can. But she might give us a little extra warning. And this mission is important enough to the Legion to justify her presence."
"A psycher! So that's it!" Twister exclaimed.
"We were wondering about her," Scrapper said.
"Cinta, can you read my mind?" Psycho asked cheerily.
"I'd rather not," Tara said, "if you don't mind."
"If she's a psycher," Merlin said, "she must know who set off the nova."
"Cinta?" Snow Leopard asked.
"I can't tell who set off the nova," Tara replied carefully. "The reason is that it was not a conscious act. The person who set it off is not himself aware that he—or she—did it. The act was performed in an autohypnotic trance, initiated by subconscious suggestion to a subject who has been programmed to receive subconscious commands. The neural process involved is so deeply covered that even I cannot read it."
"How does somebody get programmed to receive these commands," Dragon asked, "and who does it?"
"The Legion does it," Tara responded, "on a very selective basis. It's a controversial program. Most of the Legion leadership opposes it. But those who favor it—including the upper levels of ConFree—have so far prevailed. You see, it gives them direct control over individuals in the field. It's a long-range, experimental program. The subjects are chosen not with any particular mission in mind, but just to ensure that there are receptive subjects out there—just in case they're ever needed."
"Must be handy if you don't trust your troops! That sounds like the System, not ConFree!"
"ConFree!" I said bitterly. "I might have known!" I had not trusted ConFree ever since Andrion 3. The bastards were Inners, manipulating us like toy soldiers. The Legion took its orders from ConFree, we existed only to defend ConFree, but sometimes I wondered about ConFree's motivation.
"The initial programming is rather lengthy," Tara said. "It takes several hours. Once that's done, the subject is yours, forever. You can access the subject during sleep, through normal sleep-ed channels, awaken the program with a code word, and give your orders. When the circumstances are correct to accomplish the mission, the subject will act, then revert back to normal, remembering nothing. And even I cannot detect it, unless I'm around when the act is being performed. Unfortunately, I was asleep when the nova went off."
"Those bastards!"
"But how do they do it? How do they do the initial programming?"
"Has anyone ever spent any time in the body shop?" We all had, of course. All of us.
"But why? Why should the Legion want to wreck this mission? They gave us the mission!"
"Why, indeed," Snow Leopard said. "Well, that's the question, isn't it? It's a critical mission. The struggle with the O's on this planet is still underway, and every Legion unit is fully engaged, but I've got a promise of strong reinforcements—very strong reinforcements—if I can confirm there's an O starship in the Mound. Makes you wonder who would oppose such a mission."
"So who do you think is trying to stop us?"
"Well, first of all there's the Systies. That should come as no surprise. That squad that almost walked into us in the river—I'm certain they were looking for us. It wasn't a coincidence they were walking the same river as us. They knew our route—they knew we were taking the river. That's why I left the river."
"You mean the Systies want the ship as well."
"The word got out—somehow—about our mission. About the ship, and about our route. The Systies certainly don't want the Legion getting its hands on that ship—they want it themselves."
"All right, but the Systies didn't mess around with our minds!"
"No, they didn't. There's somebody else that doesn't want us to do this mission. The bunch that did the autohypnotic trance on one of us, and sabotaged our power reserves so we couldn't contact Recon Control—probably hoping it would get us killed. The same bunch that sent that aircar that got blown away by the O's—the hunter-killer teams that called a nova, and told us our mission was cancelled—Blue Gold. They wanted to draw us away from the target, too. They don't want the mission to succeed, either. They're still out there right now, just like the Systies, tracking us down. Legion troopers, it appears. Whoever is behind this, they're being very cautious in the way they do it. I'm sure there's a good reason for it."
We lay there in the snow, listening to our One and watching the Mound through our scopes. The sky was clearing rapidly, a bright, sparkling day. There was not a sign of deceptors. Our tacmods were crystal clear. It was not good, for us.
"Nobody wants us to do it," Snow Leopard said quietly. "Everybody is against us. We're even fighting ourselves. But none of that matters to me. As far as I'm concerned, we've got a mission from Recon Control, and until I hear directly from them that the mission has been cancelled, I'm assuming it's still on. We're going to get that ship, gang, and hold it against all comers—no matter who they are."
"What about whoever's under that autohypnotic trance?"
"Whoever it is," Snow Leopard said, "will try again. Probably at a critical time. Keep alert, and listen to Cinta. She might give us a few fracs warning, when whoever it is starts to surface. It could be anybody—maybe even me. Maybe even you! Don't trust anybody! And remember, the mission is the ship. That's the only mission! Everything else is secondary."