System Shock Part 6

52.'And what does this Stabfield character do?' the Doctor asked.

'He owns and runs I2. And that means OffNet the office automation stuff. It connects office equipment together.

Integrated Intelligence that's what the two I's stand for.' that's what the two I's stand for.'

Gibson shuffled the papers in his folder for a moment. Then he continued. 'The initial appeal was that I2 had no stake in the technology it was a truly independent standard. After the de de facto facto standards Microsoft and the others were rolling out this was a breath of fresh air. Companies leaped at it.' standards Microsoft and the others were rolling out this was a breath of fresh air. Companies leaped at it.'

'Then I2 got into the business properly?' the Doctor asked.

Gibson nodded. 'They started producing their own chips either complete systems or daughter chips to go into other systems. The OffNet protocols were built-in. Instead of licensing the underlying language, Vorell, you had to buy the chips.'

'So they got rich and gained control.'

'Yes. And it hasn't stopped with OffNet. The Vorell language is now used by motor components to talk to each other and divulge their service information, diagnostics and history CarNet. It's used to control lifts in office blocks so they pick up and drop off people more efficiently. It's used to schedule the trains and the tubes and the buses in just about every country in the world.'

'Big, then.' Sarah was impressed.

'Very. It will even keep your stereo sounding perfect. In fact, this evening was a first for them in several ways. The SAS used BattleNet to co-ordinate their attack. It suggests the optimum attack plan, then keeps them in constant communication and provides status information in a special head-up display within their respirators. Very effective, as it turns out.'

'All this in just the last few years.' Sarah mentally worked out the maximum time it could have taken.

'This is just the beginning,' Gibson said. The phone rang and he cupped his hand over the mouthpiece as he completed his observation: 'When the information superhighway comes on-line in a few days, OffNet will be the glue that keeps all the disparate systems working together.'

53.'So what does it all mean?' Sarah asked quietly as Gibson spoke into the phone. 'Doctor, what's going on?'

But before the Doctor could answer, Gibson stood up.

'Right, now we can perhaps get some information from you.

My boss is on his way up.'

'Nice chap is he?' the Doctor asked.

'Very. But rather more to the point, he may know if you really do have connections with UNIT.'

The door swung open behind Gibson and a man walked in.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the Doctor and Sarah. 'Good Lord. I suppose I should have guessed you two would be caught up in this.'

Sarah was speechless. She sat staring at the man on the other side of the room, unable to move. Gaping. Somehow this moment brought home to her more than any other the fact that she had travelled in time. The Doctor was rather more used to the notion, and more importantly the consequences, of time travel. He was on his feet at once, striding towards the newcomer, hand extended.

The man was tall. He was in his late forties had to be but looked as if he was still fit and well. He was grey at the temples, his hair thinning a little and receding. His face was lined and slightly softer, rounder. Sarah had seen him only a month ago, yet he was now nearly twenty years older.

The Doctor grabbed his hand and wrenched it up and down before enfolding him in a bear hug. 'Harry Sullivan now isn't this a pleasant surprise!'

Paul Campbell lived on the outskirts of Glenlake village.

From his house it was only ten minutes walk to the edge of the woods. Campbell liked to think he was fit despite his age, and if he was it was mainly down to Jasper's exercise routine. They each covered about six miles a day, at varying speeds depending on the weather, Jasper's mood and how many cigarettes Campbell had choked on the night before.

Each day they took a different path through the woods. By now they knew all the tracks and most of the clearings, so it was a surprise and something of a delight to happen upon an area they had not been to before.

54.'Will you look at that, Jasper,' Campbell gasped, patting his pockets in the hope of finding the packet of Benson and Hedges he knew was on the sideboard. It looked to his tired old eyes as if there was a small clearing ahead, and he walked closer to examine it. He did not get very far before Jasper's straining weight at the other end of the lead held him back.

'What's wrong with you?' He yanked on the lead, but Jasper would have none of it. So Campbell screwed up his eyes and managed to make out the fuzzy shape of a fence between himself and the clearing. 'You're probably right, boy,'

Campbell conceded. 'MOD, I shouldn't wonder,' he muttered as they moved off, 'putting up fences, spoiling the landscape.

They'll be shooting at things next. What's wrong now, boy?'

But the high-pitched whine he could just make out was not coming from the dog. It got louder and louder, and Jasper dragged Campbell back into the wood, trying to run from the noise. Campbell would have been more than happy to be dragged along, but the sudden down-draught which pulled at his coat and blew dust and loose debris from the ground into his eyes and his face was slowing him down. He wrapped the lead once more round his wrist to be sure Jasper could not break loose, and crouched in the slight shelter of a horse chestnut tree.

The whining noise reached a peak, joined by the rus.h.i.+ng sound of the wind through the woodland and a lower, rumbling sound like the jet engines of a fighter plane. Then, suddenly it stopped.

Jasper was calm again, his fur ruffled by the breeze but his eyes back to their usual dullness. Campbell was out of breath.

'MOD morons, don't know nothing about keeping the peace round here,' he grunted as he tried to push his few wispy grey hairs back into place. He and Jasper were about to set off for home when he realized they were being watched.

The man came from just behind Campbell, from the same direction as the fence. From the same direction as the noise. As the man approached, grew clearer, Campbell could see that he was perhaps in his early forties, tall and thin with narrow, pinched facial features. He wore a dark business suit which 55 contrasted with his pale skin even his lips were thin and bloodless.

'You hear that racket?' Campbell asked. 'Sodding military I shall report it.'

The man was close to him now, so close Campbell took a step back and Jasper growled in his usual tentative manner which fooled n.o.body.

'Report it?' The man smiled faintly, one side of his mouth twitching upwards, the other remaining set. 'I don't think so.'

'Oh don't you, then?' Campbell turned to go. 'Well, you'll see. Come on Jasper.' He flicked the lead in encouragement, and felt a tick in his back as he did probably muscles playing up again, he thought.

But it was a long, thin steel knife thrusting into his spinal cord.

Stabfield picked up the body, taking care not to get blood on his tie. He hefted it easily over his shoulder, and broke the dog's neck with a single kick. Then he untied the lead from the man's hand and wrist. n.o.body would miss the dog, but the man's body would need to be moved elsewhere. Stabfield wanted it found, not hunted for. And he wanted it found miles from where his shuttle was moored.

The appearance of the body would tie up police resources and computer-time in the area, which was a small enhancement to the plan. Another minor activity to add to the project diagram; another challenge become an opportunity.

'It's good to see you again, Harry,' Sarah said. 'But I didn't expect to see you in MI5.'

Harry smiled. 'No, probably not. Though it seemed a sensible career move at the time.'

'You moved here from UNIT?'

'Not immediately. I got a posting at Porton Down after my a.s.signment to UNIT was up. Defence research stuff, very hush-hush.' He gave a short laugh. 'That's jargon for boring boring,' he explained. 'From there it was a natural transition into intelligence work proper. I started out first as an advisor, then 56 as a field officer for MI5. Eventually I made a.s.sistant Chief of Staff.'

Sarah was impressed. 'Sounds very grand.'

Harry shook his head. 'Not really.'

'There are actually dozens of a.s.sistant Chiefs of Staff a.s.sistant Chiefs of Staff,'

Gibson said.

'Thanks, Robert,' Harry said to Gibson. 'And what have you two been up to, then,' he asked the Doctor and Sarah. 'Tonight in particular.'

The insistent steady bleep of the alarm woke Johanna Slake from her nightmares. It was the brain running unfettered and subconscious, exploring, remembering, experiencing experiencing. The cause was well understood. There was no cure but to stay awake. But she needed to be rested for her next work item.

Her skin felt slippery and tarnished as she pulled on her clothes. Her hair was immaculate as ever almost shoulder-length, then curled in on itself. Having real hair, having to brush, wash, condition it must be terrible.

She collected Carlson exactly on time from his house in Ruislip. He did not ask if she had slept well. They drove in silence until they reached the edge of Marlborough.

'But what was it that persuaded Sutcliffe to break cover? If we knew that, this whole thing would fall into place.'

'Wrong, Harry.' The Doctor jumped up and started walking round the table, head down, hands in trouser pockets, scarf trailing along the floor. 'Wrong.'

'In what way, wrong wrong, sir?' Gibson's manner was more respectful now he knew the Doctor and Sarah were old friends of Harry.

The Doctor stopped abruptly and sat down on the nearest chair, which mainly by good fortune was the one he had just vacated. 'In every way,' he snapped unhelpfully. 'We know what he found, and it doesn't answer anything. Not yet.' He rested his arms along the top of the table and sank his chin down on them, frowning. 'What's Hubway Hubway?' he asked suddenly.

'Hubway?' Gibson was thrown by the change of subject.

'Why do you ask, Doctor?'

57.The Doctor sat up and reached into his jacket pocket. He tossed a piece of paper on to the table. It was folded round something a silver disc that caught the light and reflected it in a triangular spectrum of colour. 'Because of this,' he said.

Harry held the CD up to the light, as if he was trying to look inside and see what was on it. 'Hubway,' he muttered, and turned his attention to the scrawl on the piece of paper.

'Is it Sutcliffe's handwriting?' Sarah asked. 'After all, we don't really know that the CD and the note were from your agent at all. Knowing the Doctor he might have picked them up centuries ago on a planet somewhere near Regulo Seven.'

The Doctor snorted his disbelief.

'Haven't a clue,' Harry said. 'Hardly knew him.' He handed the note to Gibson, who held it up to the light, mirroring Harry's examination of the CD.

'Could be. Yes yes, I think so. Almost certainly.'

'What's Hubway?' the Doctor asked again.

'Hubway is actually a country house in Wilts.h.i.+re,' Harry explained at last.

Sarah was dubious. 'Doesn't sound much like a country house in Wilts.h.i.+re.'

'Yes, well the house was actually Aragon Court or somesuch. But now it's the control centre and main hub of the European section of the global information superhighway. Or rather, it will be when it comes on-line.'

'And when's that?' the Doctor wanted to know.

'Next week, sometime.'

'So, what's Hubway?' asked Sarah. So far she was really none the wiser.

'I just told you,' Harry said with a frown.

'Yes, Harry, I heard. But I still haven't got a clue what it is.

Apart from the house bit.'

Gibson tried to explain. 'Well, it's the main computer-link through-route for all on-line services and information.' Sarah stared at him blankly, and he tried again: 'The superhighway manages and carries everything. Everything from interactive home-shopping by television to secret intelligence information collated, and of course encrypted, by governments and industry. You can find any information or data on the highway 58 from the Bible to p.o.r.nography, from serious discussions of politics to the speeches of Ronald Reagan.'

Sarah was still not sure, but she let it go. She could ask the Doctor later if it turned out to be important.

Harry continued: 'Anyway, it's due to go on-line in less than a week's time, complete with formal opening ceremony by the d.u.c.h.ess of Glas...o...b..ry and the American amba.s.sador.'

'So what's it got to do with the CD thing?'

Gibson considered. 'If I2 are involved with the Brothers, Hubway would be a prime target for terrorist attack.'

'So what's the CD?'

n.o.body seemed very sure of that. Harry confessed that for all their observations and Sutcliffe's periodic reports they still were not sure that I2 had any tangible links with the terrorists.

'After all, we've not managed to pin down any sort of motive.'

'I think the terrorist link is a red herring,' the Doctor observed.

'Something fishy there, certainly.'

Sarah winced, Harry's sense of humour was the one thing that did not seem to have matured over the past twenty odd years.

The Doctor ignored the comment. He picked up the CD and turned it over in his hands. 'No, I think your Mister Sutcliffe was trying to tell us something else entirely.' He held up the CD. 'Whatever he found is on this CD. It's important so important he died to get it to you.'

'And Hubway?'

'Hubway, from what you say, Harry, is likely to be equipped with the most modern and up-to-date computer technology in the country if not the world.'

'That's probably true. I've seen some of the bills for it.'

'And therefore is likely to be the ideal place to a.n.a.lyse whatever is on here.' The Doctor looked round the room and nodded to himself. 'I could do it in the TARDIS, except the systems there are rather too advanced to read this sort of ancient optical storage.' His lip curled slightly in disdain. 'No, Hubway is not important in itself. I think Sutcliffe was suggesting where we could go to find out what he was really trying to tell us.'

59.Henry Lattimer did not actually mind the night s.h.i.+ft. It gave him a chance to do some reading and it kept him out of the house while the wife was there. If Simpson was also on duty then it also gave him a chance for a decent natter and the latest gossip.

He was sitting in the control room, the latest Stephen King sitting heavily on the desk in front of him. Simpson was doing the rounds, and Lattimer was checking the cameras. He watched an insomniac rabbit on the main lawn nibbling at a piece of gra.s.s, then darting off towards the perimeter. The infra-red camera zoomed in on the rabbit's retreating shape as it disappeared into the long gra.s.s near the fence.

He glanced at each of the other monitors in turn. Not unexpectedly, nothing much was moving. A car drove slowly past the main gate, the camera on the roof tracking the movement, slowing with the vehicle as it pulled into the slip road. Lattimer watched intently, they were not expecting anyone.

But the car stopped completely, and after a second the interior light came on. Probably someone looking for the motorway, they'd be checking the map now, cursing. Soon they would reverse on to the road and head back towards Marlborough.

But the car did not move. Then the headlights went off, followed by the interior light. Lattimer punched in control for the roof camera and reached for the joystick. The grey ma.s.s of the car grew larger on the screen, until it almost filled it. As he watched the pa.s.senger door opened and a man got out. The interior light came back on as the door opened, and Lattimer could see a young woman in the driving seat. His attention was entirely focused now as the woman also got out. The couple exchanged a few words, then climbed into the back of the car.

The light went out again as the doors closed.

Lattimer cursed and zoomed the camera in still closer.

'What's happening?'