to the semibustling life that had marked it when they were first given the Gen’s
guided tour. Mechanics and orderlies went about their tasks, sec men moved
through the lower orders in their patched, faded and much altered uniforms with
a sense of purpose that was as much self-importance as anything else.
Although the redoubt would appear at first glance to be a fully working military
operation, Doc was aware of a kind of torpor in the air. They moved, they
bustled, but almost as though through water, or in slow motion, as though they
had forgotten why they were doing this.
The only one who seemed to know was Wallace. Whether it was the original
purpose, he—at least—had a clear idea of what he was doing, what they were all
doing.
They were silent in the elevator as it moved to another level. Silent still as
Wallace led Doc past the laboratories where the psychological torture had taken
place. From the corner of his eye, Doc saw Dr. Tricks noting results from a
monitor onto a clipboard. She looked up as they passed. For a fraction of a
second her eyes caught his. A gorgeous, melting brown eye with a narrow eyebrow
that was momentarily raised.
She was truly beautiful, out of place in this pesthole. Yet it was she who was
responsible for their torture. Doc was sure there was a metaphor in there if
only he could grasp it.
It was that thought that occupied him until they reached the door that had
remained closed to them on the earlier tour. It was an unassuming door,
remarkable for nothing except that very fact. Perversely that made it stand out
all the more in a redoubt where everything else was clearly marked and
delineated. Doc shuddered. What terrors could lurk behind that bland exterior?
Wallace reached for the sec panel at the side of the door, his index finger
poised to tap in the code. Then he paused, finger still in midair, and turned to
Doc.
“Dr. Tanner,” he began, a note of genuine inquiry in his voice, “during your
time at Operation Chronos, I understand that you learned a lot about the
Totality Concept. Am I correct?”
Doc demurred. “I picked up a little knowledge…” Which was always a dangerous
thing, echoed a small voice inside him. He was unsure what to give away, what to
intimate, what to lie about.
“Did you ever hear of a project called Operation Rat King?” Wallace asked.
Doc paused before answering. Across the seared and frazzled synapses of his
time-tossed brain, he struggled to access any memory, to decide whether to lie.
“I cannot recall for certain,” he replied, trying to hedge any bets.
Wallace pursed his lips meaningfully and nodded slowly. At length he said, “I
would have been surprised if you had answered in the affirmative, Doctor. It was
part of the Totality Concept that was kept ultrasecret.”
“I thought that applied to all of the experiments in that maddened scheme,” Doc
commented.
Wallace graced him with the kind of smile usually reserved for drooling idiots
or small children about to be chilled for their stupidity. “That’s just the
point of view I would expect from your case history, Doctor. I do hope it
doesn’t mean that you intend to be awkward and noncooperative. That would be
most unfortunate for all of us.”
“I do not see that I have a choice,” Doc said mildly, attempting to mask the
acidity in his tone. “It would help if you explained a little more.”
“Of course, of course. Some of the finest military, tactical and philosophical
brains of the time were brought to bear on the problem of how to outwit an enemy
that had the equivalent of our military power in software and hardware. The
answer, it was decided, lay in lateral thinking rather than the harsh, cold
logic of the computer.”
His voice adopted the singsong tone of a man reciting a text learned by heart, a
text that he couldn’t really know the meaning of, yet felt compelled to repeat
to the bitter end.
“To this end it was decided that the way forward lay in the sphere of the