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Fiction. © Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
"Good afternoon, Dr. ah ... ?"
"Williams, Thomas Williams."
"Yes, Dr. Williams. What can I do for you?"
"A mistake has been made. My grant has not been renewed."
"I see. Well, forgive me for saying so, but I suspect that your grant was probably cancelled for perfectly valid reasons."
"No ... No ... My research is vital to the Federation."
"Oh dear. And just what is this vital research of yours?"
"It's Top Secret. I'm not allowed to tell you. Uh. I'm a mathematician. I work at Montana State University. My research deals with combinatorics."
"Combina...?"
"...torics.
"...torics."
"Yes, combinatorics."
"Mathematics at Montana State University hardly sounds vital to the Federation."
"I assure you, it is."
"Well, the Federation has not renewed your grant. It sounds to me like the Federation does not think that this combina... whatever is vital. I don't see what I can do."
Dr. Williams sighed in frustration.
"Look. I will send a memo to your former supervisor, explaining your ... complaint/concern. I'll get back to you, when he responds. I can't promise any more."
A month later, after no response: "Martin, this is Thomas Williams."
"Ah, Dr. Williams. To what do I owe this honor?"
"I have some ... advice for you. I have ... information that you need."
"What information? What advice?"
"I need to talk to you in person."
Martin hesitated. "Well, OK." They agreed to meet.
"So, what's all this about?"
"The Romulans have changed their cipher."
"I can't say anything about that. You know that. You don't have the 'need to know' anymore."
"I don't need to know. I already know. Don't say anything. Just listen. I can make deductions from my previous research. The Romulans have changed their cipher. If you could comment, you would say, 'The Romulans are still using the old cipher.' And I would respond, 'That is a Romulan ploy.' You would say, 'But there is no evidence of this new cipher.' I would respond, 'There is an increase in white noise, static if you will, on hyperspace communication frequencies.'
Dr. Williams could see that Martin was interested. White noise could mean scrambling.
Dr. Williams continued, "OK. When I was working on this, I noticed changes in the static. When a Romulan ship would go from one place to another, near the Neutral Zone, there was a small increase in static.
Martin interrupted, "OK, that sounds interesting. I must check into that."
"There's more. Why would they change their cipher? You would perhaps answer, 'Because they know that we have broken their old cipher.' How could they know that? 'Because there is a traitor.' I know, that doesn't necessarily follow. But it is the simplest explanation. Can you guess what the Romulans would do if I'm right? What would they do if they changed their cipher?"
Martin thought for a while. "They would attack, somewhere, something."
Dr. Williams could tell that Martin had a good brain. "How will you tell where and when they will attack?"
"Uh. We may not have time to break their new cipher. We would put the planets and starships near the Neutral Zone on Red Alert. We would send reinforcements. We would monitor static and determine its direction and intensity. We may be able to triangulate on the sources of the static."
"And how would you accomplish this?"
Martin said, "Of course, I would report this to my supervisor."
"I already reported all this to my supervisor, to Richard, your supervisor. It was never acted upon. Richard may not be the traitor. The traitor may be further up the chain of command."
"So I can trust no one above me? So that is why you came to me, because I was below you, while the traitor was above you?" Martin was amused. "So, how do I bypass the traitor? I guess I need to go directly to the President of the Federation. How do I do that?"
Dr. Williams exhaled a sigh. "I don't know."
"There's got to be several ways. I'll work on that."
The Romulans backed off, convinced that their new cipher had been broken.
Eventually, Richard was shown to be the traitor. He tried to act innocent. But the case against him kept building and building.
"So, how'd you get in touch with the President?"
"Through my daughter. She knows the daughter of a Senator. He asked to see the President, and took me along with him. It was an odd way to do it. But, if I approached the President directly, his secretary might have called Richard and asked, "What's this man doing in the President's office? Anyway, it worked."
Martin was promoted. Dr. Williams got his grant back, but it was for more money.