CHAPTER 14

Primeris Returns

FEET RESTING ON the desk, Major Harlie leaned back in the chair with her hands cupped behind her head. Her patience and perseverance had finally paid off. For the first time in military history, a woman was commanding Special Unit 33. She had already received confirmation of her promotion to Colonel. She could now move forward with her plans.

Too much time has been lost already. Someone needs to stop this insanity.

The ringing of the deskcom interrupted her thoughts.

"On," she ordered, swinging her feet to the floor.

"Major, we've captured Wone and are bringing her in."

"Captured?"

"Yes, ma'am. She was recognized as she entered the building." The pride in her assistant's voice irritated Harlie.

"I see. Sergeant-Major, please come into my office."

"Yes, ma'am."

Idiot! Captured, my ass.

The door opened and a stocky soldier strolled in, stopping to casually stand by her desk. His nonchalant attitude spoke volumes. Harlie sat for several seconds without speaking.

So this is how's it's going to be.

Pushing her chair back, Harlie slowly stood, walked around the desk and then circled behind the soldier, inspecting his uniform from top to bottom.

"You take your appearance very seriously, don't you Sergeant-Major Kelley?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, puffing his chest out proudly.

"And your job equally seriously," she added.

"Yes, ma'am."

"So, as your commanding officer, I can expect you to take me seriously, too?"

Shifting uncomfortably, the Sergeant-Major snapped to attention.

"Yes, ma'am!" He replied forcefully.

"That's good. I had the impression when you entered my office that you didn't. I must be mistaken. Was I mistaken, Sergeant-Major?" Harlie asked, moving back to her chair to sit down. The man's Adam's apple bobbed nervously.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I see..." Harlie leaned back in the chair and stared stoically at the soldier. "Tell me, how long did you work for Colonel Cranley?"

"Two years, ma'am."

"Drop the ma'am for now, Sergeant-Major. It's starting to irritate me. Two years. How many years have you been in the service?"

"Twenty-one years, ma —"

"Hmmm! Tell me, in all of those twenty-one years as a dedicated soldier, have you ever addressed an officer without saluting?"

Instantly, the Sergeant-Major's right hand sprang to his forehead in a rigid salute.

"My apologies, Major, I mean Colonel."

"Apology noted. At ease," Harlie ordered. She had made her point. "Now as for Ms. Wone or any other information you might offer me in the future, please make sure you present it in an accurate manner."

"Ma'am?"

"You said she was captured by two of our men while entering this building. I assume she walked in through the main lobby. Did she resist?"

"No."

"Do you think two soldiers could subdue her if she did?"

"Ummm, well, they are two of our best..."

"I don't care if they are five of our best. Ms. Wone could easily deal with them. If she walked in, she came here willingly. No one captured her. When you give disinformation, your credibility and usefulness is worthless to me. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now send her in... alone."

"But Colonel..."

"Alone," Harlie said sternly. "And Sergeant-Major... Don't ever question my orders again. Dismissed."

Saluting, Sergeant-Major Kelley pivoted smartly and marched from the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Less than a minute later, the door opened and Primeris Wone walked into the room.

"Good morning, Ms. Wone," Harlie said and motioned for her to take a seat.

"Major Harlie. I'm here to be debriefed as ordered."

"Ordered by whom?"

"Colonel Cranley required me to report to him regularly. The guards informed me that you are now in command."

"Yes," Harlie said. "What else did he order you to do?"

"I'm to report to the Diagnostic Unit for a complete evaluation."

"Why?"

"I questioned his decision to bring two civilians in for questioning," Primeris responded. "He doesn't like being challenged."

"Understandable. What isn't, though, is why you killed Major Simpson and two of our men. That alone is reason to be evaluated."

"Major Simpson panicked and threatened me with his sidearm. The others reacted similarly. It was unwarranted. I defended myself."

"A logical decision and one I completely agree with, if that's what happened. So, why help the prisoners escape afterward?"

"I didn't. Solaria did that."

Stunned, Harlie straightened in her chair and leaned forward, her palms pressed flat against the desk.

"Solaria! Our security system would have detected her."

"She hacked the system. I believe you'll discover the vids were in a loop and the bio-sensors deactivated for approximately thirty minutes. That was plenty of time to enter the building and free the prisoners," Primeris replied.

"After overpowering you."

"Yes."

"And you don't remember anything after that? How's that possible?" Harlie asked, seeming astounded.

"One of my processors is damaged. The information can't be retrieved."

"Would the AI techs be able to?"

Primeris unconsciously shook her head.

"No. Those sectors can't be repaired. Replacing the processor isn't an option. A self-destruct cascade affect would destroy the other processors."

"Meaning what?"

"My processors were installed to be interdependent on each other. Normally, data is stored in contiguous rows for speed and efficiency. Fragmented data takes longer to retrieve but has an advantage. Information spread across multiple processors gives me time to destroy most of the information if someone attempts to tamper with them. Remove one processor and one-third of the data is gone. Whatever is left is useless. "

Although the explanation seemed a bit complicated, Harlie was able to comprehend the theory behind it.

"That actually sounds logical in a warped sort of way. What about your backup?"

Primeris gave an uncharacteristic shrug.

"It's also split between processors."

"Now, that doesn't sound so smart. Even I can see there's a serious design flaw." Harlie snorted her disgust. "Well, I certainly don't trust scientists or techies to get it right now. There's no way I'm letting them play inside your head. They'd screw it up more and you'd be useless to the Unit and to me. Who else knows about your orders besides Major Simpson and Colonel Cranley?"

"No one that I'm aware of."

"Keep it that way. What happened after you regained consciousness?"

For the next two hours, Primeris described, in detail, everything from the moment she awoke to her return to the Unit. Occasionally, Major Harlie would interrupt her with a comment or question. When she finished, both women sat quietly for several minutes.

"Do you often sleep with your assignments?" Harlie asked.

"The question isn't applicable. Chantelle wasn't my assignment and we didn't have sex, if that's what you mean by sleep with her."

"Obviously. You realize we have a bigger problem now. Not only is Solaria aware of your existence, but so are these two women. They're liabilities."

When Primeris frowned, Major Harlie's eyebrows raised slightly.

So you're not as emotionless as I've been told, she thought. This could be disastrous.

"Jain won't tell anyone," Primeris said. "She and Solaria are too close. Going public would create bigger problems for Solaria. Everyone would be hunting her. Jain's not willing to jeopardize her in such a manner."

"And the other woman?"

"Chantelle? She isn't interested in us, nor does she want publicity."

"How do you know that?"

"There are no records on her. There must be a reason she chooses to remain anonymous."

"Maybe, but according to Simpson's prelim report, she was monitoring you, even while you were cloaked. If so, she's more of a threat than Solaria — at least for now."

"Major Simpson was incompetent. His decision to kidnap them put Unit 33 in greater jeopardy. If you continue to follow his strategy, you'll be doing the same."

"And if we ignore the fact they were brought here against their will and are now free to tell anyone they want, we could be putting all of us at risk."

"Major Harlie, if they wanted to disclose what we did, they would have already done that. Your superiors would have contacted you with a damage control plan. I advise you to leave them alone for now. Also, Solaria was the one who breached our security system... apparently with little effort. She can and will do it again if you push her."

"And we'll be ready for her, this time."

"But at what cost to the unit? Whatever you try will end in disaster. She has threatened to expose everyone associated with Unit 33 if we don't leave Jain alone. I have no doubt she has developed a failsafe plan that can do just that if something happens to her or to Jain. Are you willing to take that chance?"

Major Harlie considered the question for several seconds. As much as she hated to admit it, Primeris was right. Unit 33 existed only because of its ability to work under the radar. Publicity was the last thing it needed.

"Of course not! We'll put the librarian on the back burner... for now. Chantelle is another matter. We need to find out who she is and who she works for... and it's more critical than ever that we catch Solaria. If she's told anyone else about us, we need to find them too, before we lose control of everything. You continue to monitor Jain. She might get lax if she thinks Solaria's threats have backed us down."

"It would be better if I —"

"No, it won't," Harlie countered. "You're to stay away from Chantelle. She knows what you look like. I'll assign someone else to find her. Besides, Solaria appears to have developed an emotional attachment to the librarian. I would regret it if you made the same mistake. Understand?"

And it would complicate our own plans. That's the last thing we need.

"You know what I am, Major Harlie. I'm incapable of emotions. Don't mistake my reticence in pursuing Chantelle as feelings. Diverting resources toward her would be a waste of time and money. I'm simply pointing out that I am a more logical choice in locating her since she was fixated on me."

"Your opinion is duly noted. Just stick to your present assignment, Ms. Wone. Report back to me by the end of the week. Dismissed."

Primeris stood and walked out of the office without saying a word. Harlie's stared at the door long after her departure. 

For your sake, I hope you're right. The last thing we need to worry about is another Hubot bonding with a human this early in the game.

Waving her hand over the commucom, Harlie summoned Sergeant-Major Kelley. When he entered, he snapped to attention and saluted her smartly.

"At ease, Sergeant-Major. There's a new man in our unit named Corporal Alexander. Please ask him to report to me tomorrow morning at 0700."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thank you. Dismissed."

*  *  *

Corporal Alexander glanced at his wristwatch nervously and then at the Sergeant-Major sitting at the desk a few feet away.

"Excuse me, Sergeant-Major, but do you know why the Major wants to see me? I mean, have I done something wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not privy to her thoughts," Kelley replied, not looking up from his work. A light flickered on the desk, catching his attention. "You can go in now."

Entering the room, the corporal stood at attention and saluted his commanding officer.

"Corporal Alexander reporting as ordered, ma'am."

Major Harlie returned the salute and motioned for him to sit.

"Have a seat, Brother," she said. "How have you adjusted to 33?"

"Quite well, Sister. Thank you for asking. It's good to see you finally in charge. The Order will be pleased they've succeeded after all these years. Now we can move forward with our plans."

"Yes. Some thought this day would never come. Already we have a complication that needs to be dealt with quickly. That's why I sent for you; we might have to make some changes. I believe Primeris is our immediate concern now. She's evolving faster than we anticipated, and I think she may be developing an emotional attachment to a human... a woman."

"It is inevitable," Alexander said. "Our real concern was that she would bond with a man. That would have been potentially disastrous."

"From what we've learned about Solaria, it could still be a problem. If people's reports are true, she may be able to alter her molecular structure. Personally, I think the likelihood is slim at best, but Hubots are so new, we don't know much about them. Assuming there is some truth to the rumor, we have to accept Primeris may be able to do the same. The ramifications would be unimaginable. On top of that, it's becoming more difficult to track them. Until we know the extent of their abilities, the Order must make every effort to keep them under surveillance."

"Yes. We've lost Solaria again. I'm confident she will be located soon."

"That's unfortunate. Every minute she is out of our sight, we lose valuable information regarding what she is capable of," Major Harlie said.

"I've called in half of our European Brothers and Sisters to assist us. I'm sorry I have failed you, Sister."

"This isn't your failure, Brother. Those who were watching her have failed us. They will be dealt with." Had she been talking to anyone but a Vitiate, her response wouldn't have been so mild. "I know our Brothers and Sisters are doing their best, but with Solaria, our best isn't enough. We must be diligent at all times. She is highly intelligent, more so than any human we've ever encountered. When she is found, double those monitoring her."

"As you command. What do we do now?"

"Inform the others of the situation. Find this woman, Chantelle, and learn what we can about her. If she is a threat, do what we can to eliminate it without harming her."

"And if that's not possible?" Alexander asked.

"I don't know yet. As of now you're on sick leave. Follow Primeris. She should be easy to track. Her assignment is to monitor the librarian. She's the only lead we have."

Alexander nodded and stood.

"I won't let you or the Order down."

"I know, Brother. May you harm only the deserving," Major Harlie said.

"May you harm only the deserving, Sister," Alexander replied, bowing his head slightly. Snapping to attention, he saluted his commanding officer and left.