Part 13 (2/2)

VISIT PROFESSOR AS ARRANGED.

MARY (7:00)

So-everything was go up until seven that morning; no last-minute hitches. He finished his coffee, then operated the console once more to access the hotel computer and call up the checkout routine. A record of the transaction appeared from the console's hard-copy unit, accompanied by a message thanking him for his business, expressing the hope that he would choose Holiday Inn again next time, and inviting him to call for manual a.s.sistance from the duty clerk if everything had not been to his complete satisfaction.

He loaded his suitcase into the receptacle of the baggage-handling system and left instructions to deliver it to the hotel airmobile park, Level 2, Bay 26. After a final check of the room, he put on his jacket and hat and walked down the hallway to the elevator.

Five minutes later, he settled himself into the pilot's seat of the airmobile, switched on the control console, and flipped the Manual/Auto flight mode setting to Auto. The display screen came to life:

ALL SYSTEMS CHECKED AND FUNCTIONING NORMALLY.

FLIGHT MODE AUTO SELECTED.

KEY FOR DESTINATION:.

N NEW.

P PREPROGRAMMED.

X AUXILIARY SERVICES.

He pressed the N key.

AUTO FLIGHT LOG-IN.

SPECIFY DESTINATION REQUIRED.

He bit his lower lip as the first trace of tension began building up inside him. If disaster was going to strike, it would surely be within the next sixty seconds. He keyed:

JOINT SERVICES ARMAMENTS RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT.

ANDERSCLIFF.

LINCOLN.

NEBRASKA.

Almost certainly, the destination that he had specified would trigger a response from a surveillance program somewhere in the system. Sure enough:

QUERY.

DESTINATION REQUESTED IS TOP-SECURITY LOCATION.

ACCESS PERMITTED TO AUTHORIZED Pa.s.s-HOLDERS ONLY.

STATE.

NAME, POSITION HELD, Pa.s.s CODE/VISITOR CLEARANCE REFERENCE.

He responded:

DR. HADLEY B. KRa.s.sEN.

SECTION A.8, DEPARTMENT 39, PLASMA PHYSICS.

7x8H/927380.BB

An eternity pa.s.sed while the characters remained frozen on the screen. This was the moment of truth.

No Kra.s.sen had ever been employed at Anderscliff.

Eighty-seven miles away, a computer deep below the administration building of the Joint Services Armaments Research Establishment scanned the information that he had entered and compared it against the stored records. It located a record pertaining to a Kra.s.sen, Hadley B., as described, and verified the pa.s.s code. Its verdict was composed into a message and flashed back through the infonet system. In the airmobile, the display changed at last:

AUTHORIZATION POSITIVE.

DESIRED TAKEOFF TIME:.

The a.s.sa.s.sin felt a surge of jubilation as he replied:

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