The pistol shot echoed through the room as my would-be assassin collapsed to the floor, having been shot in the back of the head by Major Castro. I had gambled that asking the gunman a question would slightly delay his pulling the trigger, just enough time, I hoped, for one of the officers behind him to fire first. It had been a narrow escape. As the assassin fell, his finger was clenched tightly on the trigger, causing his revolver to fire the bullet intended for me into his own leg.
I jumped down from the stage and turned the body over to see if I recognised him. He was dressed in a standard officer uniform, wearing the insignia of a lieutenant, and I knew him from B Platoon. He was called Vegas, I think, a cheerful sort of guy.
All the others had pushed forward, and one shouted in an anguished voice, 'Francisco!'
He turned to Major Castro.
"What have you done? We grew up together. He was my best friend."
He would have lunged at Castro in his grief, but another officer held him back.
"Look!" said the Major and pointed at the leg of the gunman.
We looked down at the splintered limb and the exposed electronic circuitry. It was an android!
El Jeffe quickly brought the room to order.
"Sound the alarm. Return and mobilise your units. Close the main gates. Nobody gets in or out.
Initiate a full roll call. I want every man accounted for. Jump to it!"
The officers quickly moved out.
El Jeffe turned to me.
"We can trust nobody, David. My apologies. Your hand, please."
I stretched out my hand, feeling a sharp pain as El Jeffe cut my finger with a knife. I pulled my hand back, but not out of anger. I guessed his reason and watched him slash one of his own fingers. A stream of red blood mixed with mine as he clasped my hand.
"Good," he said. "We are both in the clear, unless. . ."
He bent down and, cutting open the android's hand, squeezed it tight. A thin grey stream of lubricating fluid seeped out.
"I had heard that some of the more advanced models on espionage duties had been equipped with an inner layer of fake blood under their external latex covering to pass the sort of basic test for a biological entity that we have just undergone ourselves. It seems that this particular Android was not one of them, which is something."
He opened a first aid box and dressed our superficial wounds to stop the bleeding.
"We have been infiltrated, David," El Jeffe continued. "To what extent we don't know. What we do know is that it is on a like-for-like basis. Each infiltrator is the exact double of a genuine man working on this airfield."
"What do you think has happened in the case of this android? Do you think that the real Francisco could still be alive?" I asked.
"It's possible. Roberto was not killed by his replacement android. There must be a reason why that happened. It was certainly not done through compassion; it must be somehow necessary to the process. Roberto was put in temporary stasis. Hopefully, the same has happened to Francisco, but we do not know where he is being kept. If we could find the location, that would solve the question as to the number of infiltrators, providing they have not been split up."
"Not only the number of infiltrators, but also their identities. I added.
"Of course," El Jeffe replied. "But we can only hope that Francisco was alone or had only one or two partners. The consequences of a larger scale of infiltration would be disastrous. Once the roll call is found correct, I will hold a general briefing for all officers concerning camp security and the necessity for the men not to work alone but in pairs or larger groups until we sort this out.
Immediately after, there will be a planning meeting in my office. The fewer people, the better. Me, you, Major Castro, and from your side, Jarvis."
#
Two hours later, the four of us gathered in the CO's official office in the main building. Both Castro and Jarvis had bandaged fingers. No one was entitled to be taken at face value. El Jeffe had also updated them, and we were all on equal footing.
"We have two objectives," said El Jeffe.
(1) We must find a method of checking all personnel for authenticity without alerting any androids amongst them.
(2) We must search for another hidden prison on the base containing the men whose identities have been stolen. Again, this must be done covertly.
"I suggest Major Castro take command of the search.
"Mr Jarvis."
"Yes, sir?"
"You have the robot, Sol, on your team. His use of his powerful laser in our defence was, I think, originally intended for rock blasting in mining operations. It has occurred to me that he might also be able to detect underground spaces or tunnels from his mining experience. Would you check that with him? His assistance would be invaluable."
"Yes, sir," affirmed Jarvis.
"Good, " said El Jeffe. "do that now, and we will reconvene the meeting in the opps room with all officers present, in half an hour.
Exactly thirty minutes later El Jeffe opened the meeting with the officers present.
"Gentlemen. Without any delay let us proceed to the first objective. This is to root out any androids among us without alerting them. I propose we conduct a mandatory medical check for the entire camp. We will issue a statement requiring all personnel on the base to undergo a precautionary radiation exposure scan due to their close contact with the attacking machines. However, the sensors will have been calibrated to detect biometric anomalies: non-organic resonance signatures, electromagnetic emissions, or metallic trace spectra."
"That should do it," I said, "but we must have a procedure on how to detain any suspect androids or track them when they leave the scan area. I take it that the results will not instantly be available?"
"No," said El Jeffe. "We need time to check the readings."
Major Castro raised his hand.
"If I may make a suggestion, we could say that since the scan process can, on rare occasions, cause a delayed reaction in some individuals, all personnel are required to remain in a holding area for half an hour after the scan so that any adverse symptoms can be promptly treated."
"Excellent idea," said El Jeffe, "and one we will implement. There is, however, one final hurdle to overcome. These androids are sophisticated units, and they may have some inbuilt security system that will alert them to the fact that they are being scanned for biometric anomalies."
"How do you think that they are programmed to react in such circumstances?" I asked.
"Escape," said El Jeffe. "If that is not possible and they are armed or can snatch a weapon from a guard, kill as many people as they can and still try to escape. The final option is to self-destruct. An examination of the android that tried to kill David revealed a high-explosive device primed to detonate, but that was not all. There was another device containing a self-propagating virus, easily transmitted and deadly to humans. When released into the air, it instantly begins to multiply at a tremendous rate that is virtually unstoppable. An area the size of this airfield would be uninhabitable for humans in a matter of days, and anybody remaining would die. If someone in the early stages of contamination escaped to a human colony, the disease would inevitably spread and decimate the population.
"Gentlemen, the machines have not devised such a terrible weapon on their own. It would take the mind of a fiend to plan the agonising death of humans on this scale. The instigator must be rotten to the core."
I stood up.
"It is undoubtedly the work of my nemesis, Satan, who, as we speak, walks this world in the guise of a man. I alone brought him to your gates.
"We have no choice but to scan all personnel and find out how many of these agents of the devil are in our midst and pray we can find a means of neutralising them before they can self-destruct. At least we are forewarned of such a possibility.
"Should we succeed in ridding the camp of androids, and I think that despite everything, we will, it is only a postponement until the next attack. I am the one he seeks to destroy, and I offer myself as live bait. You should give him the impression that you, quite rightly, blame me for your misfortunes."
"Not at all," said El Jeffe.
Major Castro and Jarvis added words of support, but I ignored them.
"You will tie me to a stake in the centre of the parade ground as if you were offering me as a sacrifice to stop the evil one from launching any more attacks on the base, but I will be more like a tethered goat, set to catch a lion.
"With El Jeffe's permission, he will have heavily armed men hidden from view, ready to attack whoever comes to get me. Satan himself may not miss this opportunity to see me destroyed. I hope that this is the case, and if so, I will challenge him to a fight to the death. He cannot refuse me, and with the help of the wondrous sword that Sol guards with his life, I will slay him and rid this world of evil."