West of Nothing

45. Getting the Boot

When Major Zeus stepped onto the Bridge, Mason thought he was here to congratulate him. He hadn't felt that proud since the hard hat revelation. None of the other team members could claim to have singlehandedly exposed a secret plot to steal an X-Bot. Maybe he would get some kind of medal to pin on his shirt.

But the major didn't even look at him. He addressed Goat instead. There was no trace of the casual attitude from the night before. "Athanasios Passioudopolis, may I have a word with you?"

Goat looked up from his monitor. "Now? I'm in the middle of running an electroscopic analysis."

"This won't wait, I'm afraid." Major Zeus jerked his head toward the door. "In private."

Goat stayed where he was. "I'm sure whatever we have to talk about can be discussed here on the Bridge."

"I do not share your opinion. Please come with me. That is an order." Though he did not raise his voice, the note of command was unmistakable.

Still Goat didn't budge. "With all due respect, major, I am not under your jurisdiction. I was told I am to report only to General Dixon or his appointed delegate, Adria." After a moment's awkward silence, he added. "But if there is something on your mind, I'm sure Adria would not object to us talking here."

The major's mouth compressed into a thin line. "Very well. The outcome will be the same regardless."

"Am I being accused of something? You know I had nothing to do with that carnival earlier."

"My instructions were very explicit," Major Zeus said, his voice level. "The existence of the X-Bot was, under no circumstances, to be divulged to anyone outside this room without my direct authorization."

"I haven't said a peep about the X-Bot," Goat said in defense. "No one even knows I'm here. At Gothenburg, they think I'm visiting at Princeton. At Princeton, they think I'm at Gothenburg."

"The restriction also applies to any X-Bot related technologies not in the public domain. Including graphene technology."

"Is that what this is about? Ok, yes, I sent the chemical formulation on interleaved graphene to a colleague at Chalmers university. I had some questions on the conductivity of nucleated polycarbon sheets."

"You should have asked Maxwell here," he said, referring to Skunkworks. "He has a lifetime of experience with composites."

"Not with these he doesn't. Material dynamics didn't exist as a field until a few years ago. I can count on one hand the number of people with this type of knowledge."

"Then you should have used one of the contacts in the brown book. If those were insufficient, we could have brought someone in."

"What, flown them in from Gothenburg? Don't be ridiculous. That would have taken days." Goat stood his ground. "The complexities of this field are too daunting for any one man, no matter how smart or how many Ph.D.'s they have to their name. The age of bunker science is over. How's the phrase go? It takes a village."

"Those restrictions are in place to ensure that sensitive information is not leaked to hostile groups or foreign governments. Or used for illegal profiteering."

"I told you, I didn't leak anything! I consulted a trusted colleague on a purely scientific matter."

"Then I'm sure you can explain how classified schematics found their way onto the computer of a Chinese defense contractor?"

The doors of the Bridge swung open and Military Mannequin came bursting through. She carried a shoe with a broken heel in one hand. In the other she held a piece of paper which she thrust at the major's chest. Her own chest was pumping from heavy breathing. Her forehead glistened with sweat, making it look even more plastic.

"What is this?" Major Zeus asked, taking the paper.

"A direct fucking order from the general, that's what," she said. "Informing you that Athanasios will be remanded into my authority effective now."

"How did you—oh! He messaged you, didn't he? The two of you have a panic signal worked out, and Athanasios was stalling for time until you could get here."

"I advise you to keep your speculations to yourself," she said. "You are way out of your depth. There is a deeper level to this game."

"Does that game involve leaking secrets to the Chinese military?"

"That is above your rank, major. Just who do you think you are, Jack fucking Ryan? Oh, I heard all about your little sting operation. So you bagged a couple low level operatives. Whoop-dee-fucking-do. All this spy versus spy shit is just a sideshow. The real tussle is in cyber-space. It's all out information warfare. Your incompetent overreaching has just cost us a direct channel of feeding misinformation to the Chinese. I vouchsafed for Athanasios and that should have been enough for you. Now I have to go unfuck this holy mess before the general slaps a pair of balls on me just so he can rip them off with rusty pliers."

"You'll have my resignation the moment I return to my desk," Major Zeus said.

"You are an officer in the goddamn U.S. Army. You do not tender your resignation. You serve your country in the capacity your commanding officer sees fit. At the present time, it pleases the general for you to keep this three-ring circus running at maximum efficiency. And you." She motioned to Goat. "Will come with me."

"Wait, we had an agreement," Goat said. "You said I could stay on the project."

"I think we are beyond that now. Besides, the major has raised a few questions that bear explaining."

Goat's face went white as a ghost. In that instant, he had transitioned into something of a real ghost, an ex team member no one would ever think of in the same way. "I did exactly as you said," he protested.

"Then you should have done it more discreetly. Now then, as for the rest of you, I hope you can keep your heads down and produce some fucking results for a change."