On the other end of the opinion spectrum the isolationists were pressing the UN to forget about the Airlia. They wanted Easter Island and the other Airlia artifact sites ignored. The isolationist thinking was that these artifacts had been on Earth since before recorded history — it had been only man’s interference that had caused all the recent problems. In Duncan’s opinion, the isolationists wanted to put the cork back in the bottle after the contents had already spilled out.
China had already pulled its representative from the United Nations and completely closed itself off from the rest of the world over the matter. The fact that the UN had launched a mission deep into China to uncover information in Qian-Ling about the Airlia had poured fuel on the fire. There were confusing intelligence reports that there was much fighting inside China, particularly in the western provinces where ethnic and religious groups were trying to break away from the central government using the uncertainty of the current world situation as their window of opportunity. Duncan, talking to several of her contacts in Washington, had heard rumors that the CIA and other intelligence agencies, particularly that of Taiwan, were aiding in this destabilization. So even as she had to concern herself with the alien situation, she knew she had to always take into account the fact that governments were going to act on their base, selfish interests first, and look at the larger, worldwide picture second.
The world had so anticipated the arrival of Aspasia and his ships that the sudden destruction of that fleet had created shock waves that were still echoing around the globe. Duncan had no doubt that she and her comrades had reacted correctly, but many didn’t — obviously Kelly Reynolds had not felt that way.
Upon returning from China, Turcotte had relayed the Russian Section IV concern that STAAR was an Airlia front, part of one of the two warring factions that had been on Earth over ten thousand years ago. That was an entirely differently problem that was somehow connected to all the rest. There were many pieces to the puzzle, and so far Duncan was not sure how what she had went together. This new information that Easter Island and Mars were talking verified that all they had won was a respite.
“Can we break the guardian code?” Duncan asked.
“Negative. It’s the same cipher they used before when they wanted to talk to each other and keep us in the dark. No messages of love and peace in binary to us.” The admiral tapped the screen. “They’re chattering back and forth at high speed and high data compression. A hell of a lot of information.”
Duncan knew the admiral was worried. The extent of the Airlia’s capabilities was not known. The foo fighter base north of Easter Island had been destroyed — at least all indications were that it had been, she amended now that it appeared the Mars guardian was still active — using a nuclear weapon. The talon ships had also been destroyed in orbit using nuclear weapons in conjunction with the ruby sphere that had been the mothership interstellar drive’s power core. But what else might be uncovered remained to be seen, and like most of the military men she had encountered ever since they had cracked the secret of Area 51, the admiral was more than a little paranoid. She knew he would prefer to shoot first and figure it all out later.
“Aspasia must have left someone to mind the store on Mars,” Admiral Poldan said.
“Or the guardian computer on Mars survived and is still functioning on its own,” Duncan noted. “At least we destroyed their space fleet.”
“Uh-huh” was the admiral’s take on that. “But whoever — or whatever — is left on Mars survived a nuke strike.”
“What about the Springfield?” Duncan asked, trying to focus attention on the immediate situation and the reason she was here. “Will the weather force a delay?”
“Weather doesn’t affect a submarine,” Poldan said. He pointed to a console where an Air Force officer was sitting. “We’ve got commo with it.”
“Do you think this plan will work?”
Admiral Poldan shrugged. “The submarine itself is not attempting to penetrate the shield — if the shield extends underwater — which we hope isn’t the case given that the foo fighter base wasn’t shielded. We think the probe has a good chance of getting through.”
“The foo fighter base probably didn’t have a guardian computer,” Duncan noted.
Poldan ignored that. “The probe is our best shot to get a look at what’s happening on the island.”
“No change in the shield?” Duncan asked.
“See for yourself.” The admiral handed her several sheets of satellite imagery. He pointed at a dozen red spots in the lower left corner. “That’s my fleet.”
His finger moved to a black circle that dwarfed the fleet’s images. “That’s the shield. The NSA has tried every spectrum their satellites are capable of to try to see through, and nothing has worked. That computer is hiding something from us. And the longer we sit here on our butts and do nothing, the more time they have to do whatever it is they’re doing.”
“Ma’am!” a voice called out from the other side of the communications shack. Duncan turned. “Yes?”
“NSA was doing an internal security check and they found an illegal tap in the Interlink from this area.”
Duncan knew the Interlink was the Department of Defense classified Internet system. “And?”
“They backtracked the tap and it’s coming from an uplink into FLTSATCOM from Easter Island. As far as NSA can determine, the guardian is into the DOD Interlink using some of the equipment we left behind when we abandoned the island.”
“How long has it been in?” she asked.
“Over a day.”
“And they’re just letting us know now!” She turned to the admiral. “Shut the satellite down!”
“No can do.” Admiral Poldan had listened to the exchange. “That FLTSATCOM is our only connection to headquarters.”
“Admiral, you’re letting the guardian into your Interlink and from there into the Internet. What the hell do you think it’s looking for?”
“I have no idea,” Poldan said stiffly.
Duncan stepped in close to the naval officer, who towered over her. “I don’t either, Admiral, but I highly recommend you shut down that link before it finds what it’s looking for — if it hasn’t already. Unless, of course,” she added, “there’s a reason you want the guardian infiltrating the Interlink? What exactly are your orders, Admiral?”
Poldan stared down at her for a second. “I’ll contact the NSA and have them shut the satellite down.”
He had been sitting in the same place for many days, wrapped in a heavy sleeping bag with a white camouflage sheet covering his position. He was wedged behind a blown-down pine tree, the branches providing excellent overhead concealment, as they were thick and covered with snow from the previous night.
There was always snow here, even at the height of summer. This was the northernmost end of Novaya Zemlya, an island seven hundred miles long that separated the Barents Sea from the Kara Sea. The north tip of the island projected into the Arctic Ocean. It was 560 miles from Norway, north and west.