His face showed that he was annoyed at my remark. ‘Well they’re very naughty to have done so,’ he criticised irately. ‘ Dangerous talk costs lives. It’s an illusion to believe that we live in a world of human-beings in civilisation on this planet, Jason. Half of them are animals. Wild animals! They’ll cheat and lie, steal and kill for money… for power… for greed, ambition and causes.’ He paused to calm himself down and then walked on. ‘Come! I’ll take you downstairs to the laser area but you must promise me that what you see will remain a secret.’
I placed my hand over my heart. ‘Everything will be kept entirely secret, I assure you.’ I recognised that he was right in his philosophy on people. I was already becoming one of those wild animals!
He led me down a corridor with a sloping floor until we came to a dead end. There was another computer terminal was located at the side of the wall.
‘Ah,’ I told him sagely, ‘I can’t use this card for another twenty-four hours. That’s what the Brigadier told me.’
‘He was quite correct. All cards can only be used once during that period, however this is a different security check. The machine will answer to only one of two handprints… that of the supervisor of the division and mine.’ He placed his hand on the glass plate and a light glowed. Suddenly, the wall at the end of the corridor slid open with a gentle hum and we passed into a large room. There were five men working on different projects as the Director took me on the brief tour.
‘In most cases, laser light works only in short bursts. Where continuous beams of light are available, the power source is insufficient to produce the kind of energy force we need. We experiment with glass lasers with flash tubes, solid lasers which use crystals and produce strong sources of power, gas lasers where gas is installed in glass tubes measuring up to thirty feet in length and also liquid lasers. It’s quite a lot for you to take in at one go.’
I looked around the room focussing my eyes on the weapon everyone was so keep to possess. ‘I presume that’s the military weapon of the twenty-first century,’ I ventured, pointing my finger in its direction.
‘There are currently five countries trying to manufacture the same weapon in the United States… especially for Star Wars. No one knows who’s ahead at the present time. Personally, as Rhett Butler said in ‘Gone With The Wind’, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn! There’s a company rule which states for security reasons that directors aren’t allowed to extend their appointment here for longer than three years. Well my term’s almost up now so I won’t be here for much longer. What’s it like in commercial computers? Maybe it’s on the cards that we’ll exchange places.;
I smiled but continued to stare at the laser weapon. ‘I should imagine the plans for that monster are tucked well away. I wouldn’t like to think someone could steal them.’
He walked over to a bank of computers and placed his right hand on one of them. ‘They’re well protected,’ he said innocently, completely unaware of my deep interest in his answer. ‘The computer is access-barred to delivering such sensitive information. It won’t work unless it has two passwords. Most passwords contain four digits each… ours comprise five. We’ve made it as tough as possible for any potential hacker. I’ve one set of the password, the supervisor of the division has the other. I don’t know his; he doesn’t know mine. The system’s foolproof.’
‘Thank Heaven’s for that,’ I responded falsely pretending to be relieved by his comments.
‘You say the idea you have is to use laser beam applications for commercial computers. I thought all our manufactures were farmed out to a company on a sub-contract basis.’
‘It is,’ I confirmed readily. ‘But we’re considering acquiring a computer manufacturer or an assembly company. If so, I want to be ahead of the competition. We can’t beat the Far East countries in terms of the cost of manufacture because the wage levels out there are so low so we have to find other methods. Robotics interconnected with laser beam operation might be the answer.’
He thought about it for a moment and then shifted his feet uneasily. ‘Hm,’ he muttered. ‘I hope they don’t have a project of that kind lined up for me when I move from here. It sounds too damned complicated for my liking.’
‘Well these matters are all tentative at present. It could take months or even years to come about.’ I looked around the room trying to take in as much as I could at one visit. There were close-circuit cameras located near to the ceiling at strategic points which probably operated both day and night. They offered the security staff a view of every part of the complex on an array of monitors centrally located elsewhere. ‘I’m pleased to see security cameras installed for night work.’
‘Both night an day,’ he revealed. ‘We call the television staff on the monitors ‘the television crew’.’
‘Where are they located?’
‘They’re the boys in Block ‘B’. Worth their weight in gold! I couldn’t sit watching a whole host of screens for hours on end. It would drive me crackers!’
My eyes drifted from the equipment as I began to stare at the workers in the room. They seemed to be the normal type of scientists undertaking research in an establishment of this kind, dressed in white coats, but there was one man in particular who caught my attention. I moved to a different position in the room to examine his face more carefully trying not to arouse suspicion. Then I became positive in the identification. It was Tomar Duran… the man who had approached the wreckage of the aircraft in Crete and had threatened to shoot me. The man with whom I tussled on the ground before Penny shot him. I moved towards him scanning his face much more closely. Yes… there was a cut above his left eye which probably happened when we fought. But Penny had shot him with his own gun! ‘What’s the name of this man?’ I asked Packman directly. ‘The one with number five printed on the back of his white coat.’
Packman picked up a clipboard on a table and glanced at it. ‘Number Five. That’s Tomar Duran.’
I inhaled deeply trying to absorb the situation into my mind. ‘Has he been absent lately… taken some leave?’
The Director tapped into one of the computers terminals and waited for a response. ‘Yes… he took three days’ leave. Why do you ask?’
‘I presume he’s been cleared by your security people?’
‘Of course. We take the most stringent measures to ensure that everyone here is whiter than white.’
‘I’d like to see his curriculum vitae.’
‘Impossible!’ returned Packman adamantly. ‘Personnel Division never releases the records of staff unless promotion is in hand. Duran’s been with this division for two years.’
‘I’d like to ask him a few questions if you don’t mind.’
The Director shrugged his shoulders. ‘it’s not up to me. It depends on him whether he wants to answer your questions.’
We walked over to Number Five and he turned to face us. It was definitely Tomar Duran. ‘You took three days’ leave recently,’ I began, staring directly into his eyes. ‘Where did you go?’
‘Of course,’ he replied in a perfect English accent keeping his voice on an even keel. ‘I went to Crete. It was a family funeral.’
I could only assume that he was making fun of me in this dilemma. ‘Did anything unusual happen while you were there?’
He lifted his hands with the palms upwards in a token of innocence. ‘They buried my uncle and I came home.’
‘Where did you stay in Crete?’
‘In Heraklion. My family owns a restaurant there. He Acropolis Restaurant.’
He was definitely taking the mickie out of me and I disliked it intensely. ‘Do you know a Commander Spring?’