Part 22 (2/2)
”Okay.”
Sheridan activated the truth check protocol. Aldriena's link, had it been obeying the WLP, would now be monitoring her mentality, searching for cues of deception. On Earth, the protocol could only be activated with the permission of the link host. Aldriena had signed away her rights to refuse it several times when entering the deep s.p.a.ce stations.
”What is your real name?”
”Aldriena Niachi.”
”Wow. Weird name. Okay. Are you working for the UNSF?”
”I am.”
”Are you here to steal information?”
”No.”
”Hrm. You did pa.s.s.”
Aldriena smiled. ”Keep it on.”
”Okay?”
”I am a giant purple elephant. I eat plutonium for breakfast. I have been to the center of the sun.”
Sheridan frowned.
”You see, Sheridan? I'm espionage operative. I can pa.s.s the T check no problem, whether I'm lying or not.”
”I guess I should have known that,” Sheridan said. ”If you're an operative though, your story could be fake. You could actually want into that lab to steal company secrets.”
”Then go to the s.p.a.ceport. Wait for me there. If I don't show up, call security. If the UNSF shows up, then you'll know I was telling the truth and it won't matter.”
Sheridan looked thoughtful. ”If you don't want anything in the lab, then why go in? Why don't you just bring Claw to you and then use the grenade on him?”
”How?”
”I'll contact him and tell him it's an emergency. I'll tell him I've found a spy. Then when he comes here, you can get him.”
”He'd be suspicious. Forewarned. I'd never catch him. He'd kill me.”
”Then I can tell Claw that the fabricator is broken and his project will be affected. He'll come here to see for himself. Then you can ambush him.”
Aldriena thought it over. Clearly, Sheridan didn't completely trust her, which made sense.
Eh, maybe I shouldn't have told her so much. I don't want to have to force things from here.
”Okay. I guess. You'll need to leave. If you stay here, you could end up dead.”
”Oh, I won't be here. You shouldn't be either. This is a fabricator for G.o.d's sake. Make a b.o.o.by trap. Should only take us a few minutes. We'll rig the door to activate the grenade. Then it'll go off when he arrives. We won't be anywhere near it.”
Aldriena nodded. ”That's a great idea.”
Sheridan smiled. ”People aren't used to making anything they want on the spur of the moment. They buy things that are ma.s.s produced.”
”True. I didn't design this grenade. Or C4B.”
”What's that?”
Aldriena shrugged. ”Long story. Look, we don't need to make a trap. The door here has a cybloc. We'll set it to signal the grenade next time it opens.”
”Claw will be able to see the door has the notification.”
”I'll disguise it as an innocent notification. Like one to let you know he's here.”
”What if someone else opens the door?”
”The grenade is smart enough. I'll give it a signature that only matches Claw,” Aldriena said. She set the grenade down on the floor across from the door. She accessed the door's service interface and set the grenade up to listen for an opening event. Then she paused.
”What are you waiting for?” asked Sheridan.
”The grenade has an ambush mode,” Aldriena said. ”I'm trying to decide which is more likely to give us away, an active grenade or the door signal.”
”I can't believe I'm having this conversation. The last one I had was about how well cooked my eggs should be with my room servant. Hey, the grenade must be stealthy. Probably only uses pa.s.sive detection. Or else how could it work on other soldiers?”
”Yeah, it is stealthy to us. But Claw is a warrior and very advanced. So he might be alert for some trap like that and might overlook the simple door notification signal to wake it up. Especially when you've just called him.”
”Use the ambush mode. The designers had more time to think about hiding the grenade than you've got to set up the door signal.”
She's right. The grenade will be pa.s.sive and off the network. The only thing that would give it away would be a power source and a chemical signature, both of which are there whether it's in ambush mode or not.
”Okay, it's in ambush mode. Screw the door signal.”
”We could have had a lot of fun making an old-fas.h.i.+oned b.o.o.by trap,” Sheridan said.
Aldriena smiled. ”Some other time, perhaps.”
”Now what?” asked Sheridan.
”Like you said. We make sure we aren't here when Claw opens this door.”
”When should I call?”
”Not yet. We need to wait. We should time it so that the trap goes off right before the s.p.a.ce force arrives.”
Aldriena led the way out of the fabricator room.
”Can you mark the room as out of operation? I don't want anyone to come across the grenade. Not that I think they would steal it. But if no one is around when Claw goes in there, all the better.”
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