“Very well,” Edna said, realizing that the fate of the Empire, of trillions of people, rested on her shoulders. “You’ve been right so many times before I’ll have to trust you this time. We’ll go ahead with your plan and hope we can survive the backlash. What do you expect me to do?”
“Other than giving your approval, you do nothing. We don’t want to give the PCC the slightest reason to suspect we know about it. I do insist, though, that when we make our move you should be as far away from civilization as you can be. Go rafting down the Grand Canyon, go inspect sand dunes in the Gobi Desert – anywhere away from machines. If I can at least keep you safe, we’re halfway back toward rebuilding what’s bound to be destroyed.”
—
The Primary Computer Complex was not located on Earth itself. An asteroid twenty-five kilometers in diameter had been moved out of its standard orbit between Mars and Jupiter and brought into orbit around the mother planet. A series of controlled atomic explosions had hollowed out its interior, which was then crammed full of the most sophisticated computer equipment the Galaxy could provide. The asteroid’s outer surface bristled with heavy armament, prepared to defend the complex against attacks from the Empire’s enemies. If the attack was too great, the computer had its own sub-space engines to propel the asteroid through the depths of interstellar space. Elaborate screening procedures limited computer access to people with only the most impeccable credentials, and a sensitive series of detectors within the asteroid guarded against sabotage. And now, somehow, the forces of the Empire had to find a way past the defenses they themselves had designed to be unbeatable.
The Bavols and Vonnie d’Alembert had volunteered to be part of the assault force, but the Head refused. That, he said, would be a job for the Imperial Marines. The disappointed agents were assigned the even more important task of being bodyguards to Her Imperial Majesty during the crucial period of the assault. Her life would be in the greatest jeopardy then, and he wanted to have the best possible people around her.
Destroying such a mammoth edifice as the Primary Computer Complex was a complicated task, and the mission plan was an awkward compromise between speed and precision. The instant the PCC suspected what was going on it would take actions to protect itself at a speed no human being could match. The only hope the Empire had was to create as much confusion as possible to mask the true purpose of the assault team.
For several days before the mission, fifty different members of the Imperial Marines were assigned projects that required them to use the PCC. Such projects were not unusual; military personnel were often sent to the PCC for research projects. The fifty officers were from different units, and only a few were acquainted with any of the others. Their credentials were approved by the screening procedure – which was overseen by the PCC – and they were assigned research facilities within the complex.
The procedure for coming aboard the PCC was the same for all of them. They arrived in small shuttle vehicles that carried no more than twenty people at a time.
At the arrival dock they went through a thorough identity check to make sure they were who they claimed to be; at the same time, sensitive scanners checked them out to make certain they were bringing no weapons or explosives into the asteroid. From the boarding dock they rode in automated trams to the secondary security stations near their respective assigned cubicles. At these stations they went through another checkpoint, then were escorted to their study cubicles, where they were locked in until they signaled that they had finished with their research for the present. The cubicles contained food dispensers and ‘fresher units as well as lounge chairs, bookreel viewers, and computer access screens. There was no need to bring in anything from the out side, and the PCC totally controlled its internal environment.
The assault team had to work in bits and pieces. On each trip to the PCC they brought little pieces of equipment and packets of chemicals hidden in their clothing. Since the items brought were only pieces of weapons, not weapons themselves, the scanners did not detect them as a threat. The chemicals were perfectly harmless by themselves – but combined together and placed in the proper containers they would make effective bombs.
The security checks for leaving the complex were much less thorough; departing personnel were merely searched to make sure they were removing no unauthorized information. Thus, the members of the assault team were able to stash materials within their assigned cubicles. Over a period of five days, they built up enough of an arsenal to enable them to complete their mission.
The day for the final stage of the attack had arrived. The members of the team could not communicate with one another inside the asteroid; to do so would com promise their plans. Timing was therefore of critical importance to the success of their mission. Each stage of this assault had to occur within a rigid schedule that allowed no room for error. An accident or delay any where along the line could spell disaster for the team and for the Empire.
At precisely 1:47 p.m. Moscow time, a small private spacecraft that had been in a standard orbit around the Earth suddenly went out of control. Its pilot began broadcasting loudly, ranting about how he hated the Empire and was going to destroy everything he could find. He flew his ship on a lunatic course that occasionally brought it dangerously close to the Primary Computer Complex. Although the course he followed appeared to be the random steerings of a madman, it was actually plotted most carefully so that it never came precisely within range of the PCC’s weapons.
There were always a large number of Navy ships in the vicinity of Earth, to protect the capital planet from any surprise attack. Several of these heavily armed ships were given orders to close in on the rogue vessel, whose occupant was becoming louder and more belligerent by the minute. Although there was no reason to suspect the private ship was armed, it still posed a considerable threat to astrogation in the area – and since Earth was the most important planet in the Galaxy, traffic in space around it was always congested. The Navy ships were assigned the task of rounding up the madman – peacefully if possible, but they had permission to shoot him down if necessary. Gunners took their stations – and the Navy vessels, apparently by coincidence, began converging on the region of space near the PCC asteroid.
At 1:55 p.m., other events occurred. In fifty separate study cubicles scattered throughout the asteroid, the assault team members had assembled their armament and were now prepared to move into action. With gas masks over their faces they touched off small charges that blew out the locks to their cubicle doors. They raced into the hallways holding small, pieced-together blasters and makeshift bombs, knowing that time was their deadly enemy – time and the computer that completely surrounded them.
The PCC was so huge that no single conventional weapon could destroy it – and bringing a nuclear weapon aboard was impossible. Instead, each of the fifty assault team members had been given one target, one specific area to be destroyed. It was estimated that if even half the team was successful, enough of the PCC would be destroyed to seriously impair its functioning, and the job of totally obliterating it could be completed at the Empire’s leisure.
The crisis with the “crazy” pilot outside had been meant as a diversion, to draw the PCC’s attention away, however momentarily, from what the assault team was doing inside. Each free second the team had brought it that much closer to its goal. But the PCC was too large, too intelligent, and too fast to be distracted from its own internal security for long.
The PCC sensed the burned-out locks and realized there were fifty people running unattended through its corridors. Although the synchronous timing indicated a unified plot, the PCC did not associate it with government action. It merely began the orderly progression of defense procedures for which it was programmed.
Cannisters of tirascaline gas broke open throughout the ventilation system, sending the sweet-smelling vapor through the air ducts. Tirascaline was the most powerful sleeping gas yet developed, and within seconds virtually all the humans within the asteroid – several thousand of them – were unconscious, lying in their cubicles or at their posts. But fifty very important people were still awake and moving. If anything, they moved even faster, now, realizing that the appearance of the gas meant that other security measures would quickly follow.
When its monitoring cameras revealed that the principal antagonists had not been stopped by tirascaline, the PCC moved into the second phase of its defense program. Automated stun-guns mounted in the walls began firing at the rapidly moving targets, hoping to incapacitate them with a minimum of damage to the complex itself. Two of the Marines were felled by the stunners, but the rest pushed relentlessly ahead. The automated weapons were not more effective because they fired in short, discrete bursts and had to recharge for a brief interval before they could fire again. Most of the Marines ran too fast to make easy targets, and they eluded the weapons’ range.