Vitual Reality Chapter 6
Jun 18 '05
The Bottom Line Chapter 6 of Virtual Reality (the Novella)
Please read the Prelude before you read this!
I know it's cheesy, but please bear in mind that I was only 16 when I started writing it and 19 when I finished!!
Chapter 6.
Hansen was furious. He had his gun out, levelled at Kershaw. "Why did you help Canning just then? It seems to me that all of you, apart from Kalashni, have got something seriously wrong with you, especially if you think I'm going to let you get away with this. I can't do anything to Canning, yet, but I can sure do something to you and your friend here!", he said, gesturing at Browning.
"Look, I'm sure Edward knows what he's doing. I think I know what his idea is, but I'm not certain yet. The one thing I am certain of is, he's a much better psychologist than you'll ever be able to dream about being. And I think that, in all probability, so am I, although nowhere near as good as Ed. If his idea blows up in our faces, then you can shoot the lot of us. Before you get shot for failing, probably. But what would you have had us do, anyway? Sit on our backsides and hope that our Libyan friend changes his mind without any encouragement?"
Hansen knew that he was fighting a losing battle. And they'd got virtually no time left, so what did it really matter? It was, as Kershaw had so eloquently put it, better than sitting on their backsides. He didn't admit as much to Kershaw, though, but lowered his gun and glowered at the Australian.
Foster, meanwhile, was too surprised by Browning's tackle to be angry. "Where'd you learn to slide-tackle people like that, man? I thought you where a graphics artist, which doesn't seem like a very energetic thing to be really."
Browning smiled, despite the tension everyone was feeling. "Didn't you know? I used to be in the Ottawa ice- hockey team!"
Everyone's attention was wrested back to the screens. The inquest was about to really start, after all of the legal formalities that had to go before it. Canning was sweating profusely, and hoped that the man playing the doctor would be quick to catch on to what he wanted to be said. He looked across at Anderton, and saw that he too was soaked with sweat. He looked down at the floor underneath the table; there was already a small puddle forming from their combined perspiration. He looked around the 'courtroom', almost expecting to see the same puddles of sweat below all of the members in the virtual inquest committee. But he was relieved to see that the equipment that portrayed them onto the screens, and the Libyan's mind, was programmed not to show their sweat. He hoped, however, that it was programmed to show the Commander's sweat. And he was going to sweat, he was going to sweat a lot.
(They where supposed to be in a 'Military Legal Inquiry Room" for the inquest, but everyone, even the Commander-in-Chief of the whole army, called it a courtroom.)
Canning cleared his throat, and began his barrage of questions.
Q: "At what time exactly did Colonel Omh…lŠ die?"
A: "At 15:47."
Q: "What was the location of the Colonel's death?"
A: "Military Strategic Planning room 2."
Q: "What did the Colonel die from exactly, doctor?"
The formalities of these questions safely out of the way, Canning took time out to cast a quick glance towards Anderton. He had, unbeknown to anyone else, talked privately to Anderton about this. Everyone else would be expecting him to say something else, if he actually did what Canning had told him to. If he didn't, then Canning was going to be stuck in a corner with no potential way out. 'Well, if that happens, I'll just have to think of something', he pondered. When Colin spoke, it was a great relief to Canning.
A: "It is still to be confirmed, but we have found some of the poison called 'qualezitine' in his body. Our biological researchers are going to confirm this. It is a new type of poison we are working on ourselves. It is really only still in the prototype stage, but some believe it is already being manufactured by the Chinese scientists. Others believe that it is unique to our nations research laboratories. The poison is colourless, odourless, and all but undetectable. We only knew how to check for it because we've been working on it. Another twenty minutes, and it would have vanished from the body completely, leaving no trace behind it. It's good that we had the body to check so quickly, otherwise we would never have known the cause of his death. Here are the reports."
He handed some paper to Canning, and the action was conveyed on the screen as the doctor giving the reports to an attendant, who then took them over to the leader of the inquest. Canning appeared to pore over these at some length, then handed them back to someone.
Q: "So, do these findings give you any leads as to the identity of the assailant?"
This question had obvious implications, and the answer, although equally obvious, brought a collective gasp from all the AVO's, who where surprised anyway because that wasn't what they where expecting to be said (nicely adding to the realism, Canning thought), and so also a collective gasp in the 'courtroom'.
A: "All of the circumstantial evidence gathered so far leads me to believe that the assailant is in fact a member of the Libyan militia."
He waited for the babble to die down, and continued.
"In fact, due to the nature of the poison, which I only found out about because they wanted my professional advice and help in administering the early version to, um, volunteers, and then in testing and checking the results, that it is a member of the army who is very highly ranked."
The babble of a minute ago rose into a roar. The AVO's could now easily see what Canning was trying to do, even if they weren't sure what it was leading up to, and threw themselves into it enthusiastically. Hansen looked at the scene a little sheepishly, and knew that anything which he was planning to do couldn't possibly have had as much effect as this might have. Kershaw looked at him, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Now do you see why I helped him? This guy is smart. All of the time, we've been under pressure, but the Libyan hasn't. Now he's going to be under the same kind of pressure that we already are, we might be able to get through to him."
Browning, Foster and Marshall looked on in wonder. They could do nothing now, and just sat back to enjoy the ride.
Q: "I hope you have good reasons to say that! However, considering the evidence that has so far been made, what you say may very well be true. If anyone has any information at all, then they'd better come forward now. You all know what will happen to anybody found guilty of murdering a fellow officer, or of misusing army resources. They same will happen to anyone found to be withholding information about such an event. Does anyone seem to be a likely candidate for such a crime? We are not working on mere assumptions, of course, but we need to start somewhere, and you obviously know what you're talking about, doctor."
The Commander was looking suspiciously on all of his generals and officers who had been in the room at the time of the death. He didn't realise that very soon, the tables would be turned on him.
A: "Well, um", (seemed to have some trouble speaking), "there is one person who behaved a little strangely, and who would have access to any department within the building, and complete freedom to examine and even personally experiment with anything the researchers are working on."
Q: "I sincerely hope that you know what you're talking about. That sounds like you mean a very high ranking officer, probably a general, but maybe even..." He let his voice trail of uncertainly. "Who were you thinking of?"
A: Anderton blurted it out suddenly, "The Commander- in-Chief!"
The Commander looked at the doctor in disbelief, then in open rage. "You'll be opened up with a blunt instrument, and then have sulphuric acid poured all over your intestines, you", he began, but Canning cut him off.
"You may be ranked above me, Commander, but in this courtroom I am in command. Do you understand?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, but"
"No buts. You will keep silent unless I ask you a question."
The Commander glowered, but he knew that the inquest leader was right. Never mind. His time, his vengeance, would come.
Q: "You mentioned the Commander displaying some unusual behaviour. Could you explain what exactly you meant by that statement?"
A: "Well, the Commander had somehow contracted a disease which affects the eyesight. It affects the neural processes afterwards, but I was sure we had caught it before that happened. Maybe I was wrong." That remark earned him a disgusted look from the Commander. "The strange behaviour which I mentioned earlier was that he had the operation straight away. I didn't question him at the time, of course, but I found it unusual that he could have an operation, which put him out for exactly twenty-seven minutes, without informing anyone first."
Q: "Commander, do you have anything to say about that?"
A: "I had already cleared everything with General Kuldashi, who was the one who first noticed that I wasn't feeling myself, even before I did myself." He looked across at Kuldashi. "He will be able to confirm this."
Canning glanced quickly at the AVO playing Kuldashi, and shook his head vigorously. The AVO understood, and started to speak up. On the screen, thanks to some quick manipulation on the computer by Kershaw, Canning's character nodded his head at the General.
"I'm afraid that I have to refute that statement", said Kuldashi. The Commander stared at him, in a mixture of accusation and confusion. He had given Kuldashi the relevant instructions. Hadn't he?
Q: "General, have you noticed any unusual behaviour from the Commander?"
A: "Well, yes, I have, but I assumed that it was due to his illness. He's been very unsure of himself lately, and that was partly why I noticed that he didn't look well. I never imagined that it could have led to him doing this!"
'I don't believe it! They're starting to talk as if they've already decided that I did this! My own General, who I trusted... well, almost as much as I trust anyone.' The Commander was beginning to almost panic, an event as rare for him as Halley's comet passing over. Perhaps twice in a lifetime...
Canning would have given a great deal right then to have known what the Commander was thinking. He was working largely by instinct, and couldn't be sure how much his instinct was worth in this particular situation. Still, it seemed to be going pretty well at the moment. It depended on how smart, and how calm, the other AVO's were...
Q: "So, General Shelbar, as you are a close associate of the Commander, perhaps you could tell us what the Commander could possibly hope to gain from this crime against his own country and army?"
The AVO playing Shelbar took some time to respond.
A: "Well, he could be hoping to push our country into a hopeless confrontation with the USA."
There was another babble of noise. Canning waited for it to die down, noting the expression on the Commander's face carefully, before he spoke again.
Q: "Why do you say that, General? And why do you say it would be hopeless? Do you realise that such a statement could be considered tantamount to heresy?"
A: "I say that only with due reason, and in no way do I wish to..."
The AVO's nerve snapped and he collapsed onto the floor in a heap. On the screen it was construed as him falling off his chair, as the monitors had worked before anyone could stop them. "Hell, can nothing go right in this lousy assignment?!", exclaimed Hansen. Foster too thought that this was the end. Almost definitely of this mission, probably of his career and maybe his life, when his superiors found out. They would hold him almost as responsible as Hansen; who was, in fact, his superior, but not by much and not directly.
While both of the English secret service men were now resigned to defeat, the Australian secret service man was more experienced, more resourceful and more tenacious, and he would never admit defeat to anyone. It seemed doubtful to those who really knew him that he would ever die, as he would defy death forever, and who could tell if death had a stronger will-power than him?
He acted so quickly that hardly anyone even saw him drag the fallen AVO out from the chair, slip into the chair, slip the headphones on and start to speak. In fact, only Canning and Browning saw him at all, because they somehow expected him to do just that.
"I apologise to the court for my interruption there", he began, "I thought I caught a glint of something underneath the desk here, and my reflexes jumped in before I could explain. But by then it might have been too late, as all of you well know. Anyway, it was nothing, only someone's button that had come off. Oh, I believe it's yours, Lieutenant-Colonel", he said and held out his hand towards one of the AVO's. Canning marvelled at his quicksilver thinking, and noticed too that Browning had also worked fast, doing the necessary to the machines to put a "button" in Shelbar's hand, and to configure the voice-pattern analysers to Kershaw's voice, as indeed he had done when Canning had unexpectedly taken over an AVO position, albeit not as quickly as he had got up from his ice hockey exploits. Kershaw continued.
A: "As I was saying, I have good reasons. Firstly, it is common knowledge that the Commander here has had a bitter rivalry with General Antreb, our most prominent General, for years." This would really hit home, he knew. Australia had also got a vested interest in Tunisia, even more confidential than the one that the English team where trying to protect, and they had done their homework very well. This piece of information, however, came to them only by pure accident. Never mind, thought Kershaw, however it got to me, now's the time to use it. He knew that everyone else in the room would be as surprised to hear this piece of information as the Libyan was, and hoped that they had enough sense to keep the surprise from their faces. He knew Canning would, and hoped that his use of the words "common knowledge" had forewarned the others.
The Libyan Commander was livid. 'This has been kept absolutely secret for years! How can he now say that it's common knowledge? I didn't even tell my closest confidants, so no-one could have leaked it. It must be Antreb himself, although I thought that I'd shielded my feelings effectively enough; I've always given him the impression the I was in a totally impregnable position. How can he have known that I felt threatened by him? It must be his over inflated ego; and now it may bring him just what he wants. My position, but most of all, my death.' He looked across at Antreb, who in turn was looking at Shelbar, and it seemed to him that there was a look of grim satisfaction in their eyes.
Simon Harkness did indeed have a look of grim satisfaction in his eyes. He was very intelligent, and quite intuitive, and he now knew exactly what he had to do to get the Libyan on the line. Kershaw, too, was highly pleased with the way that events were going, and also pleased that all of the AVO's seemed to be smart, as they had all nodded gravely when he had made the statement about the rivalry. Anyone gasping with surprise may have been absolutely disastrous.
Canning was getting more and more impressed by Kershaw's improvisation. It had slightly altered from his own plan, although not very much, and everything that was slightly different was, he had to admit, better. Browning too was becoming slightly awed by his old friend's seemingly unlimited powers and abilities. Something told him that he was watching, not just a good agent, not just a very good agent, but the best.
Hansen, Foster and Marshall where watching the proceedings feeling slightly bemused. The men they had hired to help them were taking over completely, while they didn't have the slightest idea of what to do, and only a tenuous grasp of what was actually happening.
Q: "Yes, the court acknowledges that to be true. But what has that got to do with the Commander's actions, or alleged actions?"
A: "It has everything to do with it. All of the Commanders actions, even a back a few years, when all of his actions were, or were thought to be, completely harmonious with national policy and in the national interest, were made under the shadow of a rival who the Commander considered to be a great threat to his position. This could easily have led to grave misjudgements on the part of the Commander. As we have seen, the Commander is keen, desperate even, to attack Tunisia. Over what? An issue that, although strictly speaking is causing adverse effects on our nation, is not something which really requires military action. A more effective policy would be to increase our funding to the insurgent elements in Tunisia, which within, I feel, five years, should be enough to bring about a coup d'etat. Perhaps coupled with this, we could we could bring some high degree of diplomatic pressure onto the Tunisian government, further destabilizing it, bringing forward the happening of a coup d'etat nearly a year. On top of this, we could probably, with some persuasion in the form of an improved trading treaty, get Mali to cancel its own diplomatic relations treaty with Tunisia. Also, we could persuade Turkey to cancel their trade treaty with Tunisia, which would be very easy really as their diplomatic relations with Tunisia were stretched almost to breaking point during the shipping siege four months ago.
"With both of these treaties cancelled, economic growth would be upset a fair deal. And then, with our influence in certain business circles in Tunisia, which General Kuldashi has the details of, we could cause a run on at least two of the major banks there. Several hundred businesses in Tunisia rely on these two banks. Economic growth would be completely unattainable, and economic shrinkage would be the order of the day. The whole country would be crying out for financial aid. The Western countries, particularly Britain, America and France, for their various reasons, would be foremost in this economic aid. A few other countries may help as well, but almost all of them would be on a loan basis, and the interest rates would be none to helpful. Overall, I think that economic aid could total as much as six and a half billion US dollars a year for maybe three years after we destroy the economy. Tunisia isn't worth more than that to the West.
"The money would help to stabilize the economy, but growth would be impossible, and it would be easy for us to make sure of that. If we start exporting, temporarily of course, Tunisia's traditional best exports, at a lower price, even the USA would probably buy some from us, although secretly for the most part. We could get more sales to the West by using company names in other companies, while producing from here in Libya. Greece would be ideal for this type of trading operation. The cumulative effect of this would bring about the coup perhaps another year sooner. After three years at the most, probably a lot less, economic aid would be stopped even by the USA, as it is a futile exercise to pour money into a hole, which is what Tunisia would become.
"This information, and these plans, have been researched very extensively, by myself, General Antreb, General Kuldashi, and a team of twenty-nine more, taken from strategic planning, military intelligence one, three, five and six, economic surveillance, and economic planning. The whole scheme was, I'm afraid to say, not my own idea. It was General Antreb's." The General on the other side of the courtroom bowed modestly. "We have assessed that the coup d'etat could be achieved in three or four years, possibly less but almost certainly not more. Furthermore, it will involve no direct military conflict with General Carson, who would almost certainly be given the job of flushing our troops out of Tunisia. The reasons we have discussed that led us to believe that the West could send in no troops are, I feel, ungrounded. Gentlemen, do not underestimate the Americans, and especially General Carson. He wields great influence, and even if the government, the UN, or whoever were against the sending in of troops, it would happen."
Canning shook his head in silent wonder. What had just been said sounded so utterly convincing, he thought. In fact, it was true, but as being forewarned is to be forearmed, if you tell someone what moves to make, wouldn't you know how to counteract them?
Q: "Could you please confirm this, General Antreb?"
Harkness shuddered involuntarily. This was his big moment, and he didn't want to screw it up.
A: "Yes, indeed I can. But also, I would like to add something to what General Shelbar has just said." Harkness had picked up at once on what Kershaw had deliberately left out, and himself had a good understanding of geopolitical movement. "It's something which I withheld from the General, and in fact everyone else on my research team. As far as I know, no-one else has yet considered it. All that was said just now was true, and we are ready to put it into action straight away if necessary. There is a way to help bring about the destruction of the Tunisian government even quicker. Unbeknown to, I think, anyone here, I have run several agents of my own in Tunisia. This started some fifteen years ago, and so far has been used to great advantage for our country, although, of course, no-one knew that it was my agents that had caused certain situations for our benefit. But now, I think, the time is ripe for them to get the tribute they deserve for their selfless work. I hope that I will receive some credit for it as well, of course, as it was my idea in the first place. Anyway, some of these agents, two in fact, have reached prominent positions in the government. Another is the personal secretary to the agricultural minister. Three more are involved in the administration for three large companies that we have no other foothold in, while another four are employed by four separate small banks. Again, we have no other foothold in these banks, so they, and the companies, were left out of any planning other than that of being affected be external influences. I am sure, gentlemen, that you can see the advantage of using internal influences as opposed to external. If we can remember far enough back to think of our early military training, we will remember that blowing up a building is far, far easier if the explosives are placed inside the corner of a building.
"I am sure that you can see where I am headed. With those in administration, or in the banks, just adding a nought to an outgoing cheque, perhaps, can make a startling difference to company accounts. With the secretary, changing slightly an internal or external memo or letter is a very simple task, while as for the members of parliament, well, they can create so much confusion that all of the policies and motions will either fail to go through, fail to be put into action properly, or just plain fail. Whichever happens, we are winners. My agents are ready to start working on it immediately, in fact they have been working on it to some extent for some time now, and much of my information about Tunisia has come from them, and not just our own intelligence reports, which are reassuringly accurate, however. With everything in place, and going at full throttle, the coup could well take place inside two years, perhaps even earlier. I also recommend giving the insurgents full biological capabilities, on a small scale of course, this will frighten the hell out of the government and their supporters. And that would make the new government especially thankful to us, and thus especially valuable to us."
Kershaw nodded approvingly at Harkness. It had been a perfect performance, and his assessment of the situation had been spot on, exactly the same as his own assessment in fact.
Q: "But, General Antreb, surely your own agents in the government, at least, may get killed by a mob rioting, or even the insurgent element the we will be funding and supplying?"
A: "Of course, that is a distinct possibility. But the agents are, fortunately, expendable. I never run any agents which aren't expendable, although I do my best to hide this fact from them."
Harkness had anticipated this question, and answered it easily and readily. And, he concluded, it's probably true enough as well.
Q: "The court hears your plan, General Antreb, and I thank you, and General Shelbar, for putting it so succinctly to us. But now, Commander, it's your turn, as you will of course be given a chance to defend yourself and justify your actions. First of all, can you find any fault with the proposed actions just presented to us?"
A: "No."
The Commander has responded very flatly, trying to formulate his thoughts. It was judgement day for him now, and he had to admit to himself that he did have an ulterior motive for wanting to bring military action against Tunisia. He couldn't explain it rationally, he couldn't prove it, and he couldn't justify his feeling, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that Tunisia was somehow a threat to him, and to Libya.
Q: "Do you, then, see any potential problems with putting the plan into action?"
A: "A few."
Q: "Such as, Commander?"
While the Commander was answering all questions now very curtly, unsure of himself but sure that the court had already reached its decision and declared him guilty, Canning had adopted a quizzical, almost provocative tone. He knew that this would convince the Libyan that a decision had been reached, would make him stumble for words even though he knew what he wanted to say, and make it harder for him to form his thoughts coherently. In this he was absolutely right
A: "Well, for a start..." The Commander's voice trailed off. He found it impossible to gather his thoughts, and this made him even more confused. 'I've been under pressure before', he thought, 'and always managed to cope with it.' Yes, I've been under pressure before. But never personally. And never from my own side. He was immensely troubled by his inability to cope with the situation. He'd always believed that he could cope with any situation, that he was indestructible. But now...
Q: "Well, for a start, what?" Canning was beginning to get a little worried. He could imagine the Libyan cracking up because he, Edward Canning, best psychologist in the world, had put too much pressure on him. And then the mission would fail, just as it had looked like it was being snatched from the very jaws of defeat. 'How ironic', he thought, 'I spend all my life trying to get pressure off people, and now I might be remembered for ruining world peace because I put too much pressure on someone.' Although, even as he thought it, it seemed unlikely to him that anyone outside this room would ever know of what had happened. Somehow that thought gave him absolutely no comfort at all, though.
A: "Can the court be adjourned for a while? I'm having trouble keeping my thoughts in place."
Harkness, not realizing that Canning would have liked to give him a break (although it would probably been impossible to do without somehow arousing suspicion in the mind if the Commander), saw this as a golden opportunity. Although he knew what the rules of the court were supposed to be, he piped up, "well, gentlemen, it seems to me that no-one who can't control their thoughts should be the leader of our military." The smug look was wiped off his by an angry, "Silence! The same rules apply to you as well as everyone else! No-one will speak unless I tell them too!"
Canning was wondering how to cope with this development. He couldn't afford to give the Commander too much face in the court, especially if it meant Antreb losing face. He thought for a moment, and then spoke again, "I do agree with you, General, which is why I will not adjourn this court. However, it seems to me that no-one who can't follow the rules of a military court should be in charge of the military either!" Hoping that the others would pick up on it, especially Harkness, and feeling rather pleased with himself for the way he had dealt with that situation, he looked as if he was trying to stop himself smiling. This construed itself onto the screen and the Libyan's mind, but Canning didn't mind, as it was exactly what he'd wanted.
Harkness and Kershaw picked up on it at once, but neither acted straight away. Then, quite suddenly, Harkness laughed, and the others quickly followed. The tension had been broken slightly, which was exactly what Canning wanted, although not just for the Libyan, and not too much face had been lost on either side. Remarkably, all of the men in the room, including the Libyan, had spent some of their life in China, and so understood the losing or gaining of 'face' better than most people.
The 'trial' continued.
Q: "So, Commander, you have nothing to say in your defence?"
Canning had a perfectly judged sanctimonious edge to his voice which brought about the desired effect.
A: "Of course I have, you ... Sorry, I lost control, but I just can't believe that I'm here being accused of defrauding my own country and murdering a fellow officer!"
Q: "Well, Commander, you are. And I must say that your repeated lack of discipline is very disturbing. But now you are being given your chance to defend yourself. I suggest that you use it. So?"
A: "So, um, maybe my plans to invade Tunisia were a bit rash. I, er, felt that a show of military strength would be the quickest and most effective means of achieving the ends in view. After hearing the plan by General Antreb and General Shelbar, which was incidentally kept completely hidden from me until this time, I admit that there are advantages in using diplomatic and economic offences rather than military ones. I will say, however, that my actions up to this point have been wholeheartedly made with what I judge to be our great nation's best interests at heart."
Canning knew that he'd got the Commander where he wanted him. He adjourned the court for a while, and told the other AVO's his plan without the tension of the trial so pressing.
The court recommenced an hour or so later.
Canning looked speculatively at the Commander. Then he began the verdict.
"Commander, gentleman, the court is now ready to announce the verdict upon the actions of the Commander-in- Chief. I have taken council with my appointed adjudicators, and we are in complete agreement. The verdict is as follows:
"As the evidence stands, the Commander is acquitted of any involvement in a conspiracy to defraud the nation, or of acting against the nation's interests in the dealings with Tunisia. However, the murder of a fellow officer is a crime which can only be punished in the most severe fashion. So we have reached the conclusion that the Commander must be"
Right on cue, two AVO's came in, one dragging the other. The door in the courtroom opened, and then showed a uniformed sergeant pulling a tousled, unkempt and bruised man who looked like he was American.
"Excuse me, sir! Sorry to interrupt but this is very important! This man has just been found hiding in the complex! We have reason to believe that he is under the personal direction of General Carson, and his mission was to assassinate General Omh…lŠ! He refuses to speak, and we will be putting him under the 'truth' drug. Intelligence suggest that he is a CIA agent, although that has yet to be confirmed. I thought that you should know. I'll keep you abreast of any further developments, of course." With this, the sergeant saluted stiffly, then dragged the alleged CIA agent back out of the room.
Canning looked startled for a while. Then he spoke again, with a half-apologetic tone of voice.
"Well, Commander, this would appear to put a very different complexion on the matter. It would appear that you have done nothing wrong. We offer no apologies for what has been said, of course we must be sure of all of our military establishment, from the lowest to the highest. This is of course pending the full chemical interrogation of the supposed CIA agent."
Later, after the confirmation was given in the courtroom that it really was a CIA agent, and that he had indeed been the murderer of the Commander, Canning went for the final blow.
"Commander, you are hereby acquitted of the murder of General Omh…lŠ. However, this 'court' that has been must be kept a secret from all but those who know about it already, and not talked about ever be even these. The plans to attack Tunisia will be withdrawn, and the proposals to enter into a diplomatic offensive will be taken up. In order to preserve the identity of you, Commander, these proposals will be put forward by you, and no-one will admit prior knowledge of the plans or the incident, even, especially, General Antreb and General Shelbar. This way, you will be able to keep 'face'. Do you understand and agree with the court's decision, Commander?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now we can get back to work."
"I have to admit, Edward, you did a really great job. I was going to shoot you, you know, if you hadn't!"
Everything had worked brilliantly, and they were just waiting for the Commander to fall into a natural sleep, so that they could then sedate him and return him to Libya. He'd been under drugs so long that any use of them beyond what was absolutely necessary was prohibited. They had to let the drugs work their way out of his system, too, but they were specially designed and that would only take a few hours, while he was being shipped to Libya. The sedative would disappear from his system as soon as they injected him with the antidote, by remote control, and the needle would dissolve into nothing as well. Anyway, he'd fall asleep of his own accord soon enough, and there wasn't that great a rush now, Donaldson shouldn't have a hard job holding out for much longer... Donaldson's actions would be hard to account for, but the Commander-in-Chief wouldn't trust anyone much at the moment, and would simply have anyone who doubted his actions, past or present, executed.
"Well, you know, I just did what my instinct told me to, and" said Canning modestly to Hansen who was still laying plaudits on his brilliance, but he was cut short by Foster bursting into the room. "Mike, there's a communique from General Antreb in Libya!"
"What?" Hansen stared blankly ahead of him. This could only mean one thing.
"I'll put it on the loudspeaker."
The speakers crackled into life a moment later. It was hard to understand why the speakers still suffers from transistor noise when everything else was so hi-tech, but no- one questioned it and the speakers worked all the same.
"I believe you know who I am and why I'm making this communique. Your friend, Brian Donaldson, has been found out for the perpetrator that he is. Your plan has failed. Message ends."
In the control room there was a deathly silence. No-one moved, no one spoke. No-one even dared to breathe.
Hansen stood staring at the guilty speakers. To have come so close... His gaze transferred onto the Libyan, still lying drugged and immersed in his virtual world, oblivious to the events of the real world. Hansen kept looking at him.
Then suddenly without warning he pulled out his revolver and shot the Commander. All eyes turned to him.
"What in hell's name did you do that for?", demanded Kershaw, Foster and Canning unanimously. Hansen merely shrugged and said, "Can't stand the sight of him. He's no good to us now, is he? There's no point in keeping him alive."
Canning couldn't believe the callous cold- heartedness of the man, but wasn't entirely surprised. Hansen had shown signed of breaking up over the last two days or so, and this was merely his anxiety coming out in a lack of discipline. Still, he was shocked and exasperated.
"We could have used him for a hostage against the Libyan army! Were's your common sense? I know you're under a lot of pressure, we all are, but"
Hansen held up a hand and cut him short. "Before you patronise me any more, doctor, note that our friend here ", he gestured at the Libyan Commander-in-chief, "is the last person in the world that we could use as a hostage now. Being realistic, the Libyan's would either believe him to be another impostor, or maybe drugged somehow and brainwashed by us. So don't tell me that I've lost my common sense and don't forget that it is you, not me, who is out of their depth here."
Foster was more constructive. "Donaldson must have given away a lot already, or they wouldn't have got our radio frequency. I didn't think he'd ever talk. What can they have done to him to make him betray us like this?"
It was Kershaw who answered. "We've been doing a little research on the Libyan's techniques here, which seem to be very advanced. They've developed a truth drug, but this one is infallible. It has never been known to fail, and no victim of it has ever died due to the drug itself."
The speakers again came to life. "Hear, if you will, the fate that awaits all those who try to meddle with the affairs of Libya!" Promptly the sound switched to that of Donaldson's death, screams of agony resonating around the room long after the speakers stopped.
And in the heads of the people in the room, the sound lingered even longer.
Hansen was still furious about being defeated. He was all for committing all troops under his influence (and there were quite a few, in one way or another) to attack Libya immediately. His reasoning was that, by doing so, it would buy time for Tunisia to prepare herself better, and dismay and disorganise the Libyan forces. But Foster, who was every bit as frustrated as Hansen but far more in control of himself, pointed out that what that course of action would lead to would likely be world war three.
In the end Hansen admitted that there were too many interested parties to the developments in Libya and Tunisia to risk it, despite the said Nation's interest didn't extend to getting involved at the moment.
They all pondered their next move. The time they had left had been much reduced by Donaldson's exposure, and subsequent information that he unwittingly gave to Antreb and his officers, and their plans now had to be completely changed.
No longer was convincing the Commander of any use (which was quite convenient as he was dead anyway), but to convince Antreb not to attack.
Somehow.
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