She walked up the short wooden steps to the porch platform formed from a miniature tree crafted to a flat mushroom shape. Donald Chatfield greeted her at the wonderfully old-fashioned green-painted front door. A tall youthful-looking man with an easy smile. His neat dark hair was starting to grey in contrast to firm features and a healthy tan. She couldn't work out if those light strands were a fashion statement or an imperative genetic quirk his biononics couldn't adjust. He was three hundred and fifty years old, after all.
'Thank you for agreeing to see me, she said as he led her into the sitting room. Three big circles had been sawn out of the bulging walls, to be filled with perfectly clear crystal that overlooked his back garden. No attempt had been made to paint or cover the bare wood, though walls and ceiling had been polished to show off the dark timber's turquoise grain flecks. Even the furniture was carved from large sections of tree trunks; softened by a few scattered cushions.
'Your reputation precedes you, Investigator, he said as he waved her into one of the big chairs. 'I didn't even have to consult a reference file. But then I have served on ships around Dyson Alpha. It was a long time ago, but the crews tend to assimilate the War period's history in more detail than the average citizen, it helps us understand the mission.
'Interesting, she said as she settled back. 'That's actually why I'm here.
He raised an eyebrow in an almost dismissive expression. 'Good heavens. Even I'm history in that respect.
'Not quite. I'd like to ask you about your third mission there, you captained the Poix.
'Yes. What's the problem?
'No problem. I need some information on one of your crew: Kent Vernon.
'Oh him.
'That doesn't sound good.
Donald gave her a roguish grin. 'Navy service sounds very grand, but I was actually in the Exploration Division. We fly science missions, not combat. That allows a — he paused — broader range of characters than the regular Navy. Vernon might have been helpful analysing the generator lattice shells, but he certainly wouldn't have been any use in a regular Navy position. He wasn't the most popular person on board the dear old Poix.
'Why not?
'Don't get me wrong. He performed some valuable work. However, his social skills were somewhat lacking. Quite surprisingly so given he was Higher. It rather shocked some of the crew, they weren't used to making allowances like that.
'If he was that disruptive how did he get a commission?
'It was a science commission, he wasn't strictly Navy at all. Specialist are given temporary commissions for the duration of their missions. I was warned about his nature while the mission was drawn up.
'Yet you allowed him to take part.
'The captain has some discretion. I accessed his file and thought he could make a valid contribution; he was very highly qualified in his field. That had to be balanced against any personal disruption he would make. Ultimately, I agreed to him joining us because it doesn't hurt to shake things up every now and then.
'Strange attitude, she observed. 'You're on a difficult and important mission a long way from home in what is still technically a war zone, and you choose to take along a potentially disruptive influence.
'It was a judgement call. I made it because we'd had two previous missions at Dyson Alpha; my crew knew the routine. It was never a physical danger having him on board. Worst case scenario, which we always had to plan for, was the barrier collapsing while we were there. Vernon would just be shoved in his cabin and told to stay there while we did what we could to prevent Prime ships from escaping. Even then, the Poix would be assigned a third line defence position. To this day the Navy maintains some serious firepower outside the Dyson Pair. Ozzie help the Primes if they ever do crack out and make a break for it.
'So did you make the right judgement? Paula asked.
Donald gave an expansive shrug. 'There is no right answer to this. The mission gathered a lot of data, but I wouldn't necessarily want him on board again. In a strange way it helped crew morale afterwards. In my final two missions there was always a lot of talk about how difficult that mission was.
'Bonding in the face of adversity?
'Something like that. Though I wouldn't want to make out it was some terrible trip into hardship. It wasn't. He's just different from the rest of Highers, which isn't a crime. So what's your interest in Vernon after all this time?
'He wasn't quite who he claimed to be.
Donald gave her a long stare. 'In what possible way?
'I believe he was carrying out his own agenda, possibly on behalf of an ANA Faction.
'What agenda?
'That's why I'm here, to see what you can tell me.
'I'm sorry, but my immediate answer to that is: very little. Even taking his attitude into account it was a perfectly routine mission. We gathered data on the Dark Fortress for eight months and came home.
'There was no abnormal event? Nothing out of the ordinary?
Donald's eyes flickered as he delved down into memories long ago shunted into a storage lacuna. 'Not a thing.
'So what exactly was the mission?
'Monitor and analysis of the inner two lattice spheres inside the Dark Fortress. Which we accomplished successfully.
'Were there any breakthroughs or revelations about the Dark Fortress?
'Not due to us. The damn thing is still an enigma. We don't understand how it generates a force field large enough to envelop an entire star system; the mechanism is peculiar. Though they are making headway on the field itself these days, I gather. I don't really stay current.
'Did Vernon want to take anything further; perhaps some persistence that at the time you wrote off to his personality?
'He was always on about the factory.
'Factory?
'Whatever the Anomine used to build the Dark Fortress itself. He contended that if we could examine that we'd solve the entire generator and its principles. Logically, he was quite right. But that wasn't our mission.
'I see. Has there ever been a mission to examine the factory?
'No. Because we don't know where the factory is.
'So did Vernon want to go and search for it?
'Yes. I wouldn't mind doing that myself, actually. That would be quite something, wouldn't it? A structure that builds machines the size of a small gas-giant. Finding that would be enough to yank me back out of retirement.
'I'm sure. Paula hesitated, not trusting a word he said. 'Did Kent Vernon modify the observations you were making?
'Constantly, that's what the science team are there for. One set of results leads them off to investigate some other aspect. Within the overall mission parameter, the monitoring process is very fluid. We'd just be a simple sensor relay otherwise.
'What was Vernon's specific field?
'Quantum signature. He was there to determine the sub-physical nature of the lattice sphere composition.
'So in that field did he want to do anything he shouldn't have done?
'No. We've got a pretty broad leeway when it comes to observations. Just about the only thing the Navy prohibits is trying to take a physical sample of a lattice sphere — not that they are all strictly physical. A stupid restriction if you ask me, but I don't make the rules.
'Stupid how?
He gave her a curious gaze. 'You took part in the Starflyer War. Ozzie and Nigel Sheldon set off a couple of quantumbusters inside the Dark Fortress, and it's still working. That is one extremely tough mother. Shaving a nugget off isn't going to break it.