“Yes.” He thought of a fluctuating red field.
“Are your parents separated?”
“Yes,” he said as he thought, “Red field.”
“Have you ever hated anyone?”
“Yes.” He thought of a red field.
“From this point on, Mr. Gardner, only truthful answers,” the security interrogator said. “Do you know anything about a missing test booklet?”
Tag thought blue and said, “No.”
“Do you know anything about a fight where four men lost their lives?”
Tag thought blue and again said, “No.”
“Do you know Leila Barber?”
“Yes.”
“Did she talk with you about her poor test results on her first test?”
Tag thought blue while he said, “No.”
“Are you able to avoid cameras?”
Tag thought of a fluctuating blue and said, “No.”
“Okay, Mr. Gardner. That will be all.”
Tag got up and left the room. He gave Danielle his com number on his way to class.
The interrogator called Danielle in for the next session.
“How did it go?” Danielle asked.
“He doesn’t know anything. Here, take a look at his results.”
Danielle looked at the results and asked, “Why is there so little fluctuation in his responses?”
“I was surprised about that. Usually most students are very nervous; he wasn’t. The field said he only gave honest answers.”
“Is there any way someone could tamper with the field?”
“No! Well, no.”
“Why did you hesitate?”
“There was one person we questioned ten years ago that lied, but the field said they were telling the truth.”
“How did that happen?”
“This person had a high psychic reading. He could tell you what cards were going to come up on a shuffled deck of cards. He got quite rich at several casinos’ expense before security arrested him and had him tested.”
“Can you test for psychic ability?” Danielle asked.
“Yes, but it takes multiple measures over a sixty-day period.”
“Does the person have to know they’re being tested?”
“Well, I guess you could just have them walk through a portal sixty straight days to get your measures. There is a chance if this person has strong psychic skills he will detect the test.”
“Does that matter?”
“Theoretically, no. Psychic power just doesn’t turn itself on and off normally.”
“Okay, I’ll talk with Inspector Connor about this; I guess you should finish the rest of the top thirty in this class.”
“Okay.”
She got up and left the room with mixed emotions. Tag passed. But it didn’t feel right. Well, maybe this weekend she would get a better feel for who he was. She felt something inside of her that something was wrong with Tag’s interrogation. “Can he control the truth field?” she wondered. “If he can,” she decided, “then he really is Superman.”
Chapter 14
G rand Admiral Dorg talked with the commander of the two Glod dreadnoughts. “Are you clear on the plan?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Just to be sure, explain your role in the coming attack.”
“I and my fellow commander of the dreadnought Weapons Loaded will enter normal space and maneuver to get the Earth ship between us and your two ships. Then all four of us will open fire on the Earth ship.”
“What if they try to escape?”
“We will have them boxed in. They will have to flee close to one of our ships to escape. It should be close enough to saturate their defenses and destroy them. Especially since this is a destroyer class vessel.”
“Anything else?” Dorg asked.
“No missiles.”
“Very good! I have a ship powered down again and it should draw the Earth ship in when it passes on patrol. Even if they don’t approach, my ship will transmit the Earth ship’s coordinates and then start a ten-dreg countdown when all four dreadnoughts will jump to their assigned coordinates and begin the attack.”
“I look forward to working with you, Admiral. Maybe we can do this again.”
“Let’s get this done first, commander,” Admiral Dorg said as he signed off.
The Glod commander thought about four dreadnoughts attacking a small destroyer. The warrior in him detested the action as cowardly. A dreadnought is more than a hundred times bigger than a destroyer with forty times more tonnage; it also out guns it more than 800 percent. The commander would obey his orders; however, this was one action he would not brag about to other Glod commanders. He sat in his command chair and waited for the expected transmission.
The Earth destroyer Moscow moved silently though the sector where it had previously been attacked. Commodore Kosiev worried about his small ship. It had been his home for three years and it fit him like a pair of old slippers. He knew every nuance of its systems and knew its capabilities. He also knew that military intelligence was probably right about another attack, and that overwhelming force would be used this time. His patrol schedule had been changed and varied such that knowing exactly when Moscow would pass the sector where the first attack took place was not possible. He knew that in order to trap Moscow, a ship would have to be present to notify the attackers of his arrival. Hopefully, it would be detected before it could transmit; that would at least allow the destroyer to go to general quarters. It had been decided that the destroyer would not have any help, nor would it be allowed to fire upon any ship attacking it. It would have to escape by using its speed. It would not be allowed to reveal its weapons capability.
Moscow’s screen was out six hundred thousand kilometers and tuned to report anything containing metal. Then, just like before, Lieutenant Mikado said, “Sir, we have a return one hundred eighty thousand kilometers off our starboard side.”
“Analysis, Lieutenant?” Kosiev asked.
“High-strength alloys, sir.”
“Sound general quarters, all hands to battle stations; pull the screen in to one thousand meters and bring reactors two, three, and four on line. Ensign, open all channels of communication,” Kosiev commanded.
“Commodore, I have four star drives breaking into normal space close to our position,” Mikado said.
“Show them on our tactical screen, Lieutenant,” Kosiev said. He saw that the trap was well planned. Moscow was at the center of four ships entering normal space in a box formation. She would have to come close to two of them to escape. “Turn toward the ship at ten o’clock, helmsman,” he ordered. The destroyer turned and picked up speed.
“Sir, the four ships are in normal space and they’re all dreadnoughts,” Mikado said with an edge to his voice. “One of them has begun hitting our screen with a beam to prevent our being able to jump away.”
“By the creator, this is taking revenge too far,” Kosiev said. “These ships were all more than three thousand feet long.” He looked at Ensign Kelley and said, “Open all communication channels.”
“To the four dreadnoughts entering Directorate sector delta, this is the Directorate ship Moscow on patrol
