STAR TREK®: THE EUGENICS WARS by GREG COX

Author:GREG COX
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: POCKET BOOKS
Published: 2001-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

811 EAST 68TH STREET, APT. 12-B

NEW YORK CITY

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MAY 18, 1974

ALTHOUGH DINNERTIME IN INDIA, IT WAS SEVEN-THIRTY in the morning in New York. Roberta knew that the transporter lag would catch up with her eventually, but right now she was too busy to even try to reset her circadian rhythms. Depositing Isis onto Gary Seven’s desk, she quickly paged the Beta 5 computer. “Computer on!”

Like the revolving secret door in an old haunted-house movie, shelves of mostly decorative books automatically rotated into the wall, replaced by the wall-sized computer interface. A circular monitor, about two feet in diameter, telescoped out from the reflective black panel centered in the matte-gray casing of the Beta 5, just above the protruding control panel. Prismatic waves of color cycled across the cosmic radiation gauge above the round viewscreen, while, to the immediate left of the monitor, flashing, multicolored strips of light appeared and disappeared at right angles to each other, charting the mental activity of the Beta 5’s artificial intelligence. “Computer on,” the supercomputer responded. With every syllable, the blinking lights reconfigured themselves.

“Process incoming data,” Roberta addressed the machine hastily. She aimed the twin antennae of her servo at the receptor site on the control panel and clicked the Transmit function; in theory, this should have transferred Chrysalis’s exact geographical coordinates directly into the computer’s memory, although Roberta always found the whole process somewhat magical. “I need you to scan that location right away!”

“Authorization required to conduct scan.” The computer’s feminine, electronic-sounding voice held a distinctly snippy tone that Roberta knew only too well. “Please identify yourself.”

“You know who I am!” she blurted, seething with impatience. No matter what it was asked, the Beta 5 always made it sound as if Roberta was interrupting something far more important than, say, the fate of the planet. “We don’t have time for this,” she protested. She glanced at her wrist, then recalled that her watch had been confiscated by the guards at Chrysalis. Watch or no watch, though, she could feel vital seconds ticking away. “Just do what I told you!”

“Please identify yourself,” the Beta 5 insisted, the embodiment of cybernetic stubbornness.

Roberta clenched her fists at her sides, nearly snapping her servo in two. “Roberta Lincoln. Agent 368.” Her foot tapped irritably upon the orange shag carpet. “Satisfied?”

“Beginning scan,” the computer allowed smugly. A color image appeared on the viewer, depicting the lonely Rajput fortress at sunset. Violet shadows crept down the pitted sandstone walls of the fortress.

That’s better, Roberta thought. Now we’re getting somewhere. She hoped that some remnant of the gorgeous ruins would survive the underground explosion. “Deeper,” she instructed the Beta 5. “Beneath the surface.”

“Affirmative. Exceiver circuits tapping into existing surveillance system.” Multiple views of Chrysalis’s interior flashed upon the viewer, one after another, providing Roberta with glimpses of the complex’s many labs and corridors. “Please narrow parameters.”

Roberta nodded thoughtfully. First the kids, she remembered. Then the animals. “Prepare for remote transportation. Lock on to all humanoid life-forms . . .

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