expected him to. New Guy wore his usual stoic glare. His purpose was to follow orders, not to make decisions. That left Mindy, who was filled with questions. But she knew Stewart had made up his mind and was only asking whether she wanted to tag along. She did. So she shrugged and said, “ Sure. ”
In actuality, Mindy was anything but sure. She wasn ’ t sure what they would be doing. She wasn ’ t sure they were allowed to do it. And she wasn ’ t sure Stewart could be trusted to make the right decisions. That ’ s when she felt it again. Damn it! She was attracted to him. That ’ s the only explanation for a mountain of unsure turning into the word sure .
This meant Stewart ’ s team would be stepping outside official protocol and tracking down these trespassers on its own. This gave Web pause.
“ Last time we did something like this, ” Web complained, “ I lost like forty hours of overtime. ”
“ We got that figured out, ” Stewart said. “ It ’ ll all be on the clock. Don ’ t worry about it. This is different. ”
“ Forty hours, ” Web moaned.
“ It ’ s different, ” Stewart insisted — a devilish grin and a look of adventure in his eye. “ You heard the part about the heart-signal tracker, right? ”
Web knew exactly what Stewart was thinking, but as usual, Web had his doubts.
“ I don ’ t know, ” Web said.
“ What ’ s not to know? When do you get an opportunity like this? ”
Mindy turned to New Guy. “ What ’ d I miss? ” she whispered.
New Guy shrugged. What they both had missed was this:
About eighteen months ago, Stewart and Web confiscated a bounty hunter ’ s ship for landing in an improper zone. The bounty hunter was just on vacation with his family, but upon logging the contents of the ship, Web discovered a battered and worn box that turned out to be a highly illegal heart-signal tracker. This was a new one for Web, and the technology fascinated him. He never knew the heart produced a signal, let alone that it could be tracked. Web read everything he could on the subject, and he was especially struck by the repeated assertion that heart signals cannot be faked. That ’ s all Web needed to hear. It was a challenge he couldn ’ t resist.
Web accepted that a natural signal from a heart couldn ’ t be duplicated, but fooling the tracking device was not about nature. It was about technology. He couldn ’ t create a natural heart signal any more than he could create a natural heart. But he could trick the tracking device into thinking that he had. That was the theory that drove him. Stewart had seen this new hobby of Web ’ s as a waste of time, but he was suddenly seeing it in a new light.
“ We can lead them right to us, ” Stewart said.
“ It ’ s mostly hypothetical at this point, ” Web protested. “ It ’ s not exactly functional, yet. ”
“ Then you have some work to do. Start thinking about how to get it functional. We ’ re going Home . ”
Home was not a person ’ s house. It was the strategically chosen name of the headquarters for The Limestone Deposit Survey Group. The word Home was selected after extensive research and calculation. Once again, the purpose was to dampen suspicion and avoid attention. Thorough investigation suggested steering clear of words like Headquarters, Lab, Base, Compound, or Tree Fort. They all piqued curiosity and generated follow-up thoughts and questions. If one agent was overheard saying to another, We need to get back to the base or I just got a call from the compound , eyes would widen and curiosity would start looking for cats to kill.
Home on the other hand, was nonstimulating. Culture had trained people to have a sympathetic response to the word. When a party was winding down or the work day was coming to a close and someone said, I need to get home , the immediate response was to conjure up images of one ’ s own home and to reflect on how wonderful it would be to return there. On the other hand,
In actuality, Mindy was anything but sure. She wasn ’ t sure what they would be doing. She wasn ’ t sure they were allowed to do it. And she wasn ’ t sure Stewart could be trusted to make the right decisions. That ’ s when she felt it again. Damn it! She was attracted to him. That ’ s the only explanation for a mountain of unsure turning into the word sure .
This meant Stewart ’ s team would be stepping outside official protocol and tracking down these trespassers on its own. This gave Web pause.
“ Last time we did something like this, ” Web complained, “ I lost like forty hours of overtime. ”
“ We got that figured out, ” Stewart said. “ It ’ ll all be on the clock. Don ’ t worry about it. This is different. ”
“ Forty hours, ” Web moaned.
“ It ’ s different, ” Stewart insisted — a devilish grin and a look of adventure in his eye. “ You heard the part about the heart-signal tracker, right? ”
Web knew exactly what Stewart was thinking, but as usual, Web had his doubts.
“ I don ’ t know, ” Web said.
“ What ’ s not to know? When do you get an opportunity like this? ”
Mindy turned to New Guy. “ What ’ d I miss? ” she whispered.
New Guy shrugged. What they both had missed was this:
About eighteen months ago, Stewart and Web confiscated a bounty hunter ’ s ship for landing in an improper zone. The bounty hunter was just on vacation with his family, but upon logging the contents of the ship, Web discovered a battered and worn box that turned out to be a highly illegal heart-signal tracker. This was a new one for Web, and the technology fascinated him. He never knew the heart produced a signal, let alone that it could be tracked. Web read everything he could on the subject, and he was especially struck by the repeated assertion that heart signals cannot be faked. That ’ s all Web needed to hear. It was a challenge he couldn ’ t resist.
Web accepted that a natural signal from a heart couldn ’ t be duplicated, but fooling the tracking device was not about nature. It was about technology. He couldn ’ t create a natural heart signal any more than he could create a natural heart. But he could trick the tracking device into thinking that he had. That was the theory that drove him. Stewart had seen this new hobby of Web ’ s as a waste of time, but he was suddenly seeing it in a new light.
“ We can lead them right to us, ” Stewart said.
“ It ’ s mostly hypothetical at this point, ” Web protested. “ It ’ s not exactly functional, yet. ”
“ Then you have some work to do. Start thinking about how to get it functional. We ’ re going Home . ”
Home was not a person ’ s house. It was the strategically chosen name of the headquarters for The Limestone Deposit Survey Group. The word Home was selected after extensive research and calculation. Once again, the purpose was to dampen suspicion and avoid attention. Thorough investigation suggested steering clear of words like Headquarters, Lab, Base, Compound, or Tree Fort. They all piqued curiosity and generated follow-up thoughts and questions. If one agent was overheard saying to another, We need to get back to the base or I just got a call from the compound , eyes would widen and curiosity would start looking for cats to kill.
Home on the other hand, was nonstimulating. Culture had trained people to have a sympathetic response to the word. When a party was winding down or the work day was coming to a close and someone said, I need to get home , the immediate response was to conjure up images of one ’ s own home and to reflect on how wonderful it would be to return there. On the other hand,
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