Jacqueline Couteur had been isolated in a secure examination room. It was a cell cut into living rock with a transparent wall of metallized silicon whose structure was reinforced with molecular-binding-force generators. On one side it was furnished with a bed, wash-basin, shower, toilet, and a table, while the other side resembled a medical surgery with an adjustable couch and a quantity of analysis equipment.
She sat at the table, dressed in a green clinical robe. Five marines were in the cell with her, four of them carrying chemical-projectile guns, the fifth a TIP carbine.
Samual Aleksandrovich stood in front of the transparent wall looking at the drab woman. The monitoring room he was in resembled a warships bridge, a white composite cube with a curved rank of consoles, all facing the transparent wall. The impersonality disturbed him slightly, an outsized vivarium.
Jacqueline Couteur returned his stare levelly. She should never have been able to do that, not a simple farmers wife from a backwoods colony world. There were diplomats with eighty years of experienced duplicity behind them who broke into a sweat when Samual Aleksandrovich turned his gaze on them.
He likened the experience to looking into the eyes of an Edenist habitat mayor at some formal event, when the consensus intellect of every adult in the habitat looked back at him. Judging.
Whatever you are, he thought, you are not Jacqueline Couteur. This is the moment Ive dreaded since I took my oath of office. A new threat, one beyond anything we know. And the burden of how to deal with it will inevitably fall heaviest on my navy.
Do you understand the method of sequestration yet? He asked Dr Gilmore, who was heading the research team.
The doctor made a penitent gesture. Not as yet. Shes certainly under the control of some outside agency, but so far we havent been able to locate the point where it interfaces with her nervous system. Im a neural nanonics expert, and weve got several physicists on the team. But Im not entirely sure we even have a specialization to cover this phenomenon.
Tell me what you can.
We ran a full body and neural scan on her, looking for implants. You saw what she and the other sequestrated colonists could do back on Lalonde?
Yes.
That ability to produce the white fireballs and electronic warfare impulses must logically have some kind of focusing mechanism. We found nothing. If its there its smaller than our nanonics, a lot smaller. Atomic sized, at least, maybe even sub-atomic.
Could it be biological? A virus?
Youre thinking of Latons proteanic virus? No, nothing like that. He turned and beckoned to Euru.
The tall black-skinned Edenist left the monitor console he was working at and came over. Latons virus attacked cells, he explained. Specifically neural cells, altering their composition and DNA. This womans brain structure remains perfectly normal, as far as we can tell.
If she can knock out a marines combat electronics at over a hundred metres, how do you know your analysis equipment is giving you genuine readings? Samual Aleksandrovich asked.
The two scientists exchanged a glance.
Interference is a possibility weve considered, Euru admitted. The next stage of our investigation will be to acquire tissue samples and subject them to analysis outside the range of her influenceif she lets us take them. It would require a great deal of effort if she refused to cooperate.
Has she been cooperative so far?
For most of the time, yes. Weve witnessed two instances of visual pattern distortion, Dr Gilmore said. When her jeans and shirt were removed she assumed the image of an apelike creature. It was shocking, but only because it was so unusual and unexpected. Then later on she tried to entice the marines to let her out by appearing as an adolescent girl with highly developed secondary sexual characteristics. We have AV recordings of both occasions; she can somehow change her bodys photonic-emission spectrum. Its definitely not an induced hallucination, more like a chameleon suits camouflage.
What we dont understand is where she gets the energy to produce these effects, Euru said. The cells environment is strictly controlled and monitored, so she cant be tapping Trafalgars electrical power circuits. And when we ran tests on her urine and faeces we found nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly theres no unusual chemical activity going on inside her.
Lori and Darcy claimed Laton warned them of an energy virus, Samual Aleksandrovich said. Is such a thing possible?
It may well be, Euru said. His eyes darkened with emotion. If that creature was telling the truth he would probably have been attaching the nearest linguistic equivalents to a totally new phenomenon. An organized energy pattern which can sustain itself outside a physical matrix is a popular thesis with physicists. Electronics companies have been interested in the idea for a long time. It would bring about a radical transformation in our ability to store and manipulate data. But there has never been any practical demonstration of such an incorporeal matrix.
Samual Aleksandrovich switched his glance back to the woman behind the transparent wall. Perhaps you are looking at the first.
It would be an extraordinary advance from our present knowledge base, Dr Gilmore said.
Have you asked the Kiint if it is possible?
No, Dr Gilmore admitted.
Then do so. They may tell us, they may not. Who understands how their minds work? But if anyone knows, they will.
Yes, sir.
What about her? Samual Aleksandrovich asked. Has she said anything?
She is not very communicative, Euru said.
The First Admiral grunted, and activated the intercom beside the cells door. Do you know who I am? he asked.
The marines inside the cell stiffened. Jacqueline Couteurs expression never changed; she looked him up and down slowly.
I know, she said.
Who exactly am I talking to?
Me.
Are you part of Latons schemes?
Was there the faintest twitch of a smile on her lips? No.
What do you hope to achieve on Lalonde?
Achieve?
Yes, achieve. You have subjugated the human population, killed many people. This is not a situation I can allow to continue. Defending the Confederation from such a threat is my responsibility, even on a little planet as politically insignificant as Lalonde. I would like to know your motives so that a solution to this crisis may be found which does not involve conflict. You must have known that ultimately your action would bring about an armed response.
There is no achievement sought.
Then why do what you have done?
I do as nature binds me. As do you.
I do what my duty binds me to do. When you were on the Isakore you told the marines that they would come to you in time. If that isnt an objective I dont know what is.
If you believe I will aid you to comprehend what has happened, you are mistaken.
Then why did you allow yourself to be captured? Ive seen the power you possess; Murphy Hewlett is good, but not that good. He couldnt get you here unless you wanted to come.
How amusing. I see governments and conspiracy theories are still inseparable. Perhaps Im the lovechild of Elvis and Marilyn Monroe come to sue the North American Govcentral state in the Assembly court for my rightful inheritance.
Samual Aleksandrovich gave her a nonplussed look. What?
It doesnt matter. Why did the navy want me here, Admiral?
To study you.
Precisely. And that is why I am here. To study you. Which of us will learn the most, I wonder?