To The Stars

“I don’t feel it is wise for all of us to sit here while the lock is tried. We want a volunteer. Me. Could I have the number please, Amri Ben-Haim?”

“Get someone else,” Jan said, quickly. “I’ll do it.”

“There is already a volunteer,” Ben-Haim said as he passed a slip of paper over to the girl. She took this and the case and went down the steps into the garden, walking to the far end by the wall. When she reached it she turned to wave to them, then turned back and bent over the sealed metal box.

Twelve

Jan felt the tension drain from him when she straightened up and held the box over her head.

“There was littlie danger,” Ben-Haim said. “Or I wouldn’t have sent her — and you wouldn’t have let her go.”

Dvora ran up the stairs, smiling and breathless, and laid the open case on the table. Ben-Haim reached in and took out a flat rectangle of black plastic.

“A Mark fourteen hard disc memory,” Jan said. “Where is your terminal?”

“Inside. I will take you there,” Ben-Haim said, leading the way Dvora stood aside to let Jan by and on sudden impulse he took her hands in his.

“That was a foolish thing to do…”

“No it wasn’t, and you knew that. And besides, it will look good on my service record.”

She was laughing, only half serious, and Jan’s laugh echoed hers. Only then did he realize that he was still holding her hands; he tried to pull away but Dvora held them firmly. The same impulse had seized her and before she released her grip she leaned out and kissed him. Her eyes were open, dark, her lips moist and warm. He returned the kiss and this time it was she who dropped his hands. She stepped back, and after a long and expressive look she turned and led the way into the house.

Ben-Haim was standing in front of the computer terminal tapping the buttons.

“No success,” he said. “It keeps asking for a code reference before it will run. I have no idea what it means.”

Jan leaned over and looked at the letters on the screen

ENTER CORRECT ACCESS CODE NOW -

ENTERING INCORRECT CODE WILL

WIPE THE MEMORY

And you have no idea what the code is?” Jan said, mostly to himself. “Then if you don’t have it — I must. And I can think of only one thing.” He took out his new ID card and looked at the number. “Thurgood-Smythe told me that this number was Cassius’s identification code when divided by the day of the month. But you never asked me for an identifying code?”

“We had no reason for instructions.”

“Then this must be it.”

Jan fed the number into his calculator, divided it by 27 then read off the twelve digits to the left of the decimal point He entered them into the terminal and hit RETURN. The screen came to life with Thurgood-Smythe’s nodding image.

“Very glad to see that you have arrived safely, Jan, and are now with my old associate Amri Ben-Haim. As you must realize, this recording is far too important to have risked accidental disclosure. Ben-Haim had half the key to it, you Jan, the other, as you have now discovered. Now please make yourself comfortable while I explain what I have in mind.”

Jan touched the STOP button and Thurgood-Smythe’s image froze on the screen: “Don’t you think we ought to record this?” he asked. “This disc is liable to self-destruct for all we know, so a copy is very much in order.”

“Of course,” Ben-Haim said. “Please do that.”

Jan slipped a blank disc into one of the drives then started the recording again.

“… I want the present war of rebellion to end as soon as possible. Ben-Haim, Jan will tell you my personal reasons behind this decision. I suppose you will not believe them any more than he does, which is a pity. I am most sincere in this matter. But that is beside the point. The arrangements I suggest to end the war will appeal to you on completely pragmatic grounds. I count upon self-interest to secure your aid, not sympathy for any cause I might espouse.

“Firstly I shall outline the grand design of my plan so you will understand it and realize that circumstance will force you to join me in implementing it. I’m sure that we share a mutual goal in believing that the coming conflict must end with victory for the human race.