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"Hamline. You have everything. Time for you to get to your estate. Sit
tight. Sit tight for at least twenty-four hours. Don't leave your estate. Your
town house is on the north side of Lidora, is it not?"
The attorney nodded.
"Call your childrenùyou didn't remarry, I assumeùand have them flit out
within the next two hours. Call it a personal crisis, but get them here.
"Don't ask me why. Just do it. Hope all goes well, but the future is
more important than a few people, even those I like, and that also includes
you and me."
Corso barked a single, hard, laughing sound that expressed neither humor
nor relief.
"Now . . . go. I'll open the bay port from here. Take the folder and
your case."
Rodire mechanically took the folder and put it in his case, the case he
had not even realized that Corso had brought from his flitter. He stood, and
his steps carried him from the crew room and through the lock, down the ramp,
and back to his own flitter.
LXIX
GERSWIN SHOOK HIS head sadly as Rodire's flitter wobbled out through the open
hangar bay.
"Hope he makes it."
Half the hope was for Rodire. The other half was for CE, Limited, and
the people of El Lido. One way or another, one Shaik Corso would be a quiet
persona non grata for a number of years, assuming his plans worked out.
He redirected his attention to the AI.
"Interrogative status of trap jam."
"Code Trap Jam sustained for four minutes forty seconds. Initial links
verified at 2,645."
"With a standard repeat factor, how long before the planetary commnet
freezes?"
"Probe thrusts indicate system approaching eighty percent of capacity.
Estimate capacity in twelve minutes."
Gerswin nodded.
The trap program was designed to link every possible receiver and fax
outlet and to keep the connection open and unbroken. As a self-replicating
program, the longer the system remained operational, the farther the programs
spread. The end result would be the total paralysis of all public
communications systems. The odds were that the unclassified military and
security systems would also be paralyzed because some of the terminals and
screens in government offices would be employed for both systems. The open
transmit links would also create an enormous power drain on the planetary
system, enough to grind some segments of the planet to a total halt.
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The last feature of the trap program was that, if any terminal was not
purged of the program, the same chain could start all over again once power
was restored, although without the massive input used by Gerswin, the
commercial systems and the government could eventually confine the damage and
regain control.
The program worked. The remaining questions were how completely and for
how long.
Gerswin touched the Caroljoy's controls, made some adjustments, and
stood, surveying the cabin. Still wearing the pseudo-DomSec uniform, he left
the ship, walking down the ramp without watching the locks close behind him as
he hurried toward the armed flitter.
The concealed bay doors opened as he went through the checklist, and,
within minutes, he was airborne. He kept the flitter just above treetop
height, and shifted his communications monitors to the military frequencies,
since the civilian frequencies were already dead.
"Gnasher two . . . vector to homestash . . ."
"Negative, Gnasher two. Operating emergency power. Beyond trace range .
. .
"OPNET Emergency. OPNET Emergency! Clear this frequency! Clear this
frequency!"
Gerswin watched, scanned the board, and waited as the flitter skimmed
the trees on its way toward Lidora, roughly fifty kilometers westward. No
other transmissions sounded except for a series of highpitched squeaks, and he
shifted frequencies again when he realized that the one he had monitored was
now being used for data transmission.
"Far Cry, negative your last . . . negative your last . . ."
"Thunder one, arrived DomSec. Thunder two, provide cover."
Gerswin nodded. So far so good. The DomSec boys weren't used to being
under siege. He checked the forward farscreens, but outside of the background
energy levels, could detect nothing specific.
"EMERGENCY'!"
"SSSSKKKKRRRR . . . EMERGENCY . . . Due to failure of the communications
network and widespread power difficulties, the Premier and the Ministry of
Domestic Security have declared a planetary emergency. Repeat, a planetary
emergency. All unauthorized flitters and other aircraft have fifteen standard
minutes to land. All civilian craft are immediately prohibited in the Lidora
capitol area. Any aircraft in the capitol area will be forced down or
destroyed. I say again. . ."
Gerswin edged the thrusters back from full power. He'd reach Lidora, or
the point he needed to reach outside Lidora, within minutes, and there was no
need to waste the power yet.
In some respects, he wished he could have done the job from the
Caroljoy, but had she been modified to carry weapons, even he would have been
unable to obtain certification, and he needed that certification to visit New
Augusta and the more developed systems that actually inspected and guarded
incoming ships.
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In any case, to have made sure of the targets he would have had to drop
below orbital defenses, which created the same problem he faced nowùnamely,
how to keep clear of the mess he was about to create. The other advantage of
using the flitter was that both the El Lido government and the Impies would
have to investigate local sources.
Gerswin checked the course line against the targets.
Taking his right hand off the thrusters momentarily, he wiped his
forehead with the back of his sleeve. The DomSec uniform was hotter than he
would have preferred.
Cling!
The farscreen alarm sounded, and the pilot checked both the screen and
the horizon at two o'clock. A black dot of increasing size was aimed toward
him.
His scan showed that the forest beneath was thinning and the terrain
becoming hillier as it gradually rose toward the eroded plateau on which the
center of Lidora was built. Gerswin had chosen his course inbound over the
Great Parkland, hoping to minimize the chance of groundfire. At a time when
the planetary communications and power networks seemed under attack, he
doubted that the Ministry of Domestic Security would be deploying large
numbers to cover the parks.
"Flitter over the Parkland! Flitter over the Parkland! Reverse heading.
Reverse heading."
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