style="font-size:15px;"> “Work is still going on, Mr President,” replied the assistant in low voice, “Too much material fell into the hands of our operatives.”
“Tell them I’m not happy with the speed of the work.”
“There aren’t enough people with the right security clearance, Mr President, There’s a lot of information, and it’s never clear in advance what it’s level of secrecy is.”
“Anything important found yet?”
“Nothing to respond immediately. But… there’s information on Rear Admiral Lavroff. It’s very ambiguous.”
“More specifically?”
“It’s a report of an illegal investigation that spanned almost his entire life. Most of the data is obtained by illegal means, but we have to admit, this is the work of high quality, both operational and analytical.”
“Did something come up that we didn’t know before?”
“Yes and no, Mr President. The basic facts were known to us, but this report contains details that raise difficult questions. In addition, these materials contain the results of an analysis of Lavroff’s behaviour made by highly qualified psychoanalysts. Their conclusions sound fantastic, but they seem well founded.”
“What do they say?”
“You should see this document in person, Mr President,” said the assistant while sending the file to Tobolsky, “I am not an expert in this matter and I do not wish to distort the substance of the information that we have in our hands.”
For about ten minutes Tobolsky carefully examined the file, then looked up at the assistant.
“The information is classified by level A-O. Lavroff is not touched, I will decide what to do with it.”
“Mr President, don’t you think it’s dangerous to leave Rear Admiral Lavroff with the powers he has now?” The assistant was allowed to ask such questions, moreover, Tobolsky appreciated Ignat for the ability to ask them at the right moment.
“I don’t think so, Ignat. Even if Lavrov is not who we thought he was, he’s not the enemy. This man has already done so much for the Federation that it is foolish to suspect him of harboring any hostile agenda. Had it not been for his actions, I do not even know what the situation on the fronts would be.”
“Such analysis has been carried out, Mr President. Which is why I didn’t report this investigation to you immediately, and I was going to hand it over as part of the final report.”
“And what stopped you?”
“Analysis showed that if Lavroff did not exist, the Solar System would have been captured by the quargs eight months ago.”
I escorted Lit-ta to the cabin specially equipped for her aboard battleship Bangui. The guest of honor was to be brought home with maximum comfort and in the shortest possible time, and two more battleships, an aircraft carrier, a dozen destroyers and three «Invisibles» were assigned as escorts. No one wanted to lose such a valuable ally to the Federation because of some stray squadron of quargs.
“Admirrral,” said Lit-ta in the doorway, showing me her split tongue and sort of accidentally promoting me, “Our sssuperrrior leaderrr loved the idea of a fleet of hybrrrid ssshipsss with mixed crrrewsss. Contact me thrrrough your beaconsss, and I’ll sssend you the expertsss and everrrything you need to grow our ssshipsss.”
Lit-ta flew home, and I went back to Earth, where Jeff and Professor Stein were waiting for me. They just couldn’t wait to dig into the lizard technique. I’ve given them the task of creating a hybrid reconnaissance ship from Kruger 60, as soon as I heard from security specialists that the information I needed was starting to be collected in their database.
The heads of the captive quargs whom we managed to remove the block were a complete mess. The craftsman who twisted their brains out knew his business. The most important information to us has been destroyed in the quargs’ memory in the first place. They didn’t get senile or become something like a vegetable. The functions of the brain, which are responsible for everyday activities, have not been disrupted. Short-term memory also functioned well, but in long-term memory, it was as if a tornado had passed through, not tearing everything down, but selectively destroying what was needed.
But there was something left, the process of information self-destruction did not always get started in time to get to the end.
It seems that information about the captured humans and the lizards was considered important enough by the block developer, moreover, this information was not available to all prisoners. But when we successfully removed over a thousand blocks, and the security officers were already struggling to move with fatigue, constantly interrogating more prisoners, something started to emerge.
“Rear Admiral, Sir,” Major Karjalainen has contacted me via hypercommunication, it was the same officer from the Department of Defense Internal Security who was investigating the trap that was set up for us by Global Weapon Industries’ lobbyists during the Gliese 338 operation. He was a Senior Lieutenant at the time, but apparently that investigation helped his career.
“I’ve been ordered to send you an information packet on the possible locations of the prisoners and lizards in the quarg rear,” my tablet vibrated announcing the receipt of the file, “As a direct participant in the interrogation of prisoners, I may add that the information is incomplete and quite contradictory,” continued Karjalainen, “It appeared that they were places of temporary detention, but they had been in operation for many years. What’s going on out there, none of the prisoners know or remember because of the memory loss.”
“Thank you, Major, you’ve been very helpful, tell me how the quargs have behaved after the removal of the block?”
“They behave very differently, Rear Admiral, Sir. Some of them don’t talk, and then we have to use chemicals. Others speak for themselves, sometimes without even waiting for questions. There have been four cases in which the quargs have volunteered to help us and have expressed their willingness to cooperate if this would help to remove the blocks of other prisoners.”
“Who gave them these blocks?”
“Their authorities. This is done in special centres, which are quite numerous throughout the territory of the quargs. The block needs to be renewed every ten years, otherwise it kills the host. They told me why it was done. If a quarg deviates from the correct behavior, the blocks of such a quarg and his whole family are not renewed. Surrender is also considered to be a deviation, with all the consequences, if it becomes known. Therefore, quargs surrender only when they realize that the information will not reach their superiors.”
“The blocks are for ordinary quargs only?”
“No. All the prisoners have them, and many of them are officers, but they’re not above the average of a major.”
“Thank you, Major, I look forward to the completion of your work.”
“Rear Admiral, Sir, if we learn anything of real importance, I will contact you immediately. The order to keep you informed comes directly from our Chief.”
As we flew to Earth, I had time to think about the situation. A lot of things have happened recently, so it was clearly necessary to think them over carefully. Despite the seemingly good overall picture, I didn’t feel comfortable. There’s been too many unknowns
