TW09 The Lilliput Legion NEW (5 page)

"It's only a scratch." Steiger glanced down at the two dead M.P.'s, his lips compressed onto a thin line. "They got the worst of it."

"You're bleeding profusely," Torvalt said, frowning. "You'd better let me see that. It could be serious. I've never seen a laser wound that didn't cauterize."

"It wasn't a laser," Steiger said. "Bring me that man’s weapon."

Dr. Torvalt started to reach for the pistol, then hesitate "Should I be touching this?"

"Why not?"

"Well . . I don't know, I mean . . . it's evidence, isn’t it?"

"Were you planning on arresting him? Come on, snap out it, Doctor. You act as if you've never seen a dead body before What the hell kind of a pathologist are you?"

"There's no need to be sarcastic, Colonel," Torvalt said stiffly. He wrenched the pistol loose from the dead man's grip "After all, it isn't every day I walk into the middle of a war.”

“War?" Steiger snorted. "Hell, this wasn't a war, Doctor this wasn't even a small skirmish. This was merely murder.”

"Merely?" said the doctor.

Steiger winced. "Sorry. I tend to get a little testy people try to kill me."

"Here." Torvalt handed Steiger the gun, handling it gingerly.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Steiger, examining it.

"What kind of weapon is that?" Torvalt said, fascinated spite of himself. "I've never seen anything like it."

"That's because it's a bit before your time, Doctor. It's a true collector's item. A Semiautomatic lead projectile pi5 fitted with a custom silencer. A 10-mm Colt Delta Elite, circa the late 20th century."

"The
20th century?"
said Torvalt, with astonishment.

Alarmed faces were looking in through the windows in doors. Several hospital staff people started to come in.

"Stay out!" snapped Steiger. They quickly backed out a again. "Doctor, I want this place secured. I'll have I.S.D. coordinate with you. Get those men up off the floor and get a full workup on that one," he pointed at the assailant corpse. "Retinal patterns, finger and palm prints, dental analysis, genetic mapping, the works. I want to know who he was before the night is out."

"Colonel, that's impossible! There's no way I can do all that in-“

"Then get someone who can. This is top priority. I am holding you personally responsible."

There was a knock at the door.

"What is it? Steiger shouted, angrily.

"I.S.D., Colonel."

"That you, Danelli?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come on in."

Three commandos in black base fatigues entered, their sidearms held ready. Steiger recognized them and lowered his pistol.

"You all right, sir?" Sgt. Danelli said, holstering his pistol. "Yeah, You got here quick."

"Responding to a report of a dead body, sir. One of the hospital cleaning staff found one of the doctors murdered." He bent down and pulled the nametag off the dead man's lab coat. "Now we know why. What are your orders, sir?"

"First of all, get some more people down here and secure the area" Steiger winced, holding his arm up as Torvalt staunched the flow of blood and examined the wound. "Nobody comes in, nobody leaves. Nobody goes off duty. I want all hospital personnel questioned.
Everybody.
We probably won't learn anything, but do it anyway. Delegate someone to take charge of that. I want you personally to get on the com right now and call the old man. Alert his security detail, tell him we've got two men down, both dead, and I've got a superficial flesh wound. Pure dumb luck. The hitter was a pro. It was the Network, no doubt about it. Find out how many people knew about my brother's body being brought in. Then get on to the S & R team that actually brought him in. I want to know how that hitter knew to be here. Then have someone call Archives Section and tell them to stand by for a download. Dr. Torvalt here is going to feed them everything they need for an I.D. check on the hitter. I want to know who the son of a bitch was. You got all that?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Right. Go to it." Steiger winced again as Torvalt probed the wound.

"Christ!
You having fun, Doctor?"

"Sorry, Colonel," Torvalt said. "It's just that I've never seen a wound like this before. I wanted to make certain that there were no lead projectile fragments remaining in the wound. There could be a danger of lead poisoning—"

Steiger laughed. "Hell, Doc, if that had been a fragmentation round, I wouldn't be sitting here. The bullet went clean through. Just spray on some disinfectant, slap a graft patch and let me out of here. I've got work to do."

Forrester glanced at the nervous-looking man who'd just entered the room. "With the security situation the way it is I wanted Dr. Gulliver close by, where I could personally keep eye on him."

"Forgive me, gentlemen," Gulliver said, hesitantly. "I not mean to intrude, but I . . ." he stared at Andre. "Good Lord! You're a woman!"

"I was last time I checked," said Andre.

Gulliver turned to Forrester with a befuddled lot. "But . . . a
female
military officer?"

And as he turned, he noticed the far wall of Forrester’s penthouse quarters. The entire wall was a window looking out over the lights and illuminated towers of Pendleton Base; sprawled out below, a panoramic view that even included sulfurous glow of Los Angeles off in the distance, to the north Gulliver gasped.

"Merciful heavens! Where in God's name am I?
"
approached the window slowly. "I could have sworn there was a wall here when I came in!"

Forrester picked up his remote ambience control from coffee table and opaqued the window, switching to the holographic slide. Gulliver caught his breath as he suddenly found himself staring at what appeared to be a solid wall, painted a deep maroon, with paintings hanging on it. The effect was completely three dimensional.

"It's done with this, Dr. Gulliver," said Forrester, show him the remote control unit. "It isn't a real wall, you see. It’s only a projection . . . uh, an illusion. A sort of trick. See I can change the color of the wall in an instant if I choose to.”

He clicked another button on the unit and the wall became dark green.

"However, in actuality, the entire wall is really a large window," Forrester said, canceling the projection.

Gulliver stared out at the view, mesmerized. "I am not insane," he mumbled. "I am
not
insane. I am
not."

"No, Dr. Gulliver, you're not," said Forrester, coming up to the man and putting his hand on his shoulder. "You have simply found yourself in a situation that taxes all your beliefs. However, I remind you of the things that you have already experienced and seen and known without a shadow of a doubt to be absolutely real. And as difficult to believe as this may seem, this too is real. You have been transported almost a thousand years into the future, to the 27th century, where the advances in our technology make your society seem as primitive as Norman England would seem to Londoners in the year 1702."

Gulliver slowly approached the window, then recoiled with a small cry.

"Don't worry, it's quite safe," said Forrester.

Gulliver shook his head. "At first I thought that we were in a house atop some mountain, but . . . dear Lord, this building must be . . ." his voice trailed off in incomprehension.

"A hundred and fifty stories tall," said Forrester. "And it's not even a very tall building by the standards of this time."

Gulliver continued to stare raptly out the window at the panoramic view.

Delaney came up to him and offered him a glass of whiskey.

"Here, Doctor," he said. "For medicinal purposes."

Gulliver sniffed the glass and smiled. "Good malt whiskey," he said, with a weak smile. "Thank God for something familiar."

He drained the glass.

"I think I had better sit down, if I may," he said.

"Please do," said Forrester. "I know things have been very confusing for you since you arrived here, Dr. Gulliver. One moment, you were in 18th century London, and the next, you were somehow magically transported to a sort of prison cell and held there without explanation for twenty-four hours. In fact, it was not really a prison cell at all, but something we call a 'secure transport coordinate zone.' We maintain a number of such secure areas and one of their functions is to handle unusual cases such as yours, where it becomes necessary to transport someone from the past without adequate preparation or warning. It was necessary to hold you for that time so that we could take certain precautions."

"I know you must have many questions," Forrester continued. "So do we. Alexander Steiger was a soldier, a Temporal Observer . . . a sort of spy, if you will. Since Cpl. Steiger had no time to send us a complete report, he sent you, instead Whatever it was that attacked you and killed Cpl. Steiger located you by means of this."

Forrester held up a little plastic envelope containing what looked like a tiny, bright blue seed.

"By means of
that
little thing? What is it?" Gulliver said.

"It is a highly sophisticated signaling device," said Forrester. "It's been deactivated. It was implanted under your skin, behind your left ear."

Gulliver's hand went to the spot behind his ear. "What... But . .
how?
There is nothing. . "

"You were rendered unconscious for a time," said Forrest He held up his hand as Gulliver was about to speak. "Yes I know you don't remember. And there is no point in feeling around behind your ear, Doctor. You will find no evidence of surgery, I assure you. Not even the faintest scar. Please, try to understand, we have the ability to do things that someone from your time could not even begin to understand. It is unavoidable that you will be exposed to some of them, and I will attempt to explain whatever I can if there is time; but in many cases, explanation itself would require a complex explanation, and it would involve a challenge to your systems of belief. I know it is difficult, but please try to bear with me and accept that what I tell you is the truth. We need your help, Dr. Gulliver Millions of lives could be at stake. Will you help us?"

"I do not understand any of this, General," said Gulliver nervously, "and I must admit that I am frightened, although somewhat less frightened now then when I first arrived here. You have been most considerate. And as you have pointed out I have already seen things that defy belief on the island of little people and somehow I have managed to accept them survive. There is much here that I don't understand. I cannot comprehend how it is possible that I have been somehow transported a thousand years into the future, but I cannot deny the evidence of my senses." He gestured at the window. "That is unquestionably
not
world I came from. Sandy . . . or Cpl. Steiger, as you I him, accepted my tale when everyone else believed me to mad. And now, because of me, he is dead. That, General something I can comprehend only too well. Yes, of course I will do whatever I can to help."

"Good," said Forrester. "Then if you will bear with me, I'll attempt to answer some of your questions and explain who Sandy was and why he sent you here. . . ."

"Excuse me, sir," said Forrester's orderly, interrupting them.

"Yes, Roberts, what is it?"

"Sgt. Danelli of the I.S.D. just called from the base hospital. There's been an attempt on Col. Steiger's life."

Delaney was out of his chair like a shot. "Is he all right?"

"He's been wounded, sir," said Roberts, "but I'm assured it's only superficial. In fact, I was told he'll be on his way up here momentarily. Unfortunately, both men on his security escort were killed. Sgt. Danelli said Col. Steiger is certain the Network was responsible. Obviously, someone knew he was going to be in that hospital morgue."

"Hell, he only left here less than twenty minutes ago!" said Forrester.

"It's seems likely that someone affiliated with the Network reported that his brother's body was being brought in," said Sgt. Roberts. "Sgt. Danelli is going to be checking with the S & R team that brought Cpl. Steiger back and working back from there to see how many people knew about it. Along the line, someone must have leaked the information and an assassin was sent to the hospital morgue on the theory that Col. Steiger would be bound to go there. I.S.D. found one of the pathologists murdered and stuffed into a supply closet. Col. Steiger felt, however, that there was another possibility."

"That this place is bugged," said Andre.

"What, my own quarters?" Forrester said, with disbelief.

"An I.S.D. unit is on its way to sweep for surveillance devices," Roberts said. "However, Sgt. Danelli seemed to think it was an unlikely possibility. If they could get in here to plant a bug, then why not go ahead and plant a bomb?"

"We'd better get you out of here, sir," said Delaney.

"Well, now where the hell am I supposed to go?" said Forrester. "You think it's any safer out there? Forget it. I'm not going to run from these people. I'm much better off being where they can make a try for me. That'll at least give us an opportunity to tackle them. Hiding won't solve anything. Besides, if they wanted to, they could take out this entire building with a small guided missile."

"I.S.D. has already anticipated that, sir," said Robe "There's been an S.D. battery emplaced upon the roof."

Forrester stared at him. "Are you serious? Somebody installed a Strategic Defense battery on my roof?
When?"

"Last week, sir," Roberts said. "It was air lifted into place and—"

"On
whose
orders?"

"Col. Steiger's, sir."

"Well, it's sure as hell nice of somebody to tell me Forrester said.

"I . . I'm sorry, sir, I thought you knew," said Robert

"Well, it's a fine goddamn thing when the Director Temporal Intelligence doesn't even know there's an autopulser battery up on his own roof! What the hell
else
has Col. Steiger authorized that I don't know about?"

"I've ordered your personal security increased, for one thing," Steiger said, walking in on the tail end of conversation. He hadn't even stopped to change his torn bloodied shirt. "And I don't want to hear any arguments about it, either. These people aren't playing around."