Project U.L.F. Read Online Free PDF

inside. The ground was littered with spent bullet cartridges and, of the fifteen-strong team, only three bodies remained as a legacy to their slaughtered comrades, their limbs haphazardly arranged as if they were puppets whose strings had been unexpectedly severed. A hurried search found no trace of the others.
    Years later, Mannheim, already working his way up the corporate ladder at the IZP, acquired a specimen of the creature involved in that fateful confrontation for the zoo. As part of his research on the animal, he thought it would be beneficial to acquire a copy of the tapes from the expedition. He was surprised when the city mainframe informed him that no such tape existed. His investigation of the animal soon became an investigation of Leonardson.
    A CSETI report chip stated that all the team had lost their lives in a landslide. No bodies had been recovered. Mannheim later learned that certain data recordings had “got lost” during a reshuffle of the CSETI data library.
    When he confronted Leonardson and told him what he had discovered, Leonardson had pleaded with him not to tell anyone else about the cover-up. It was a pitiful sight, Mannheim recalled. To see such a large man, large both in stature and power, reduced to a sniveling, whimpering caricature of his normal self, was, well, embarrassing.
    Mannheim took good advantage of his upper hand. He struck a deal. In exchange for keeping Leonardson’s secret he would be supplied with certain classified information. It was vital to Mannheim that the IZP learn about new life forms well in advance of its rivals so that acquirement teams could be deployed and specimens brought back and exhibited.
    Over the years, as the smaller zoos were forced to close, the IZP flourished and within a few years Mannheim had manipulated his way to the top. Knowing that Leonardson would never want the truth to be common knowledge gave Mannheim an extreme power over the other man. It was a position he relished and Leonardson resented. He could, effectively, demand what he wanted and he had on numerous occasions turned the screw a little further, applying more pressure to Leonardson. Even now he congratulated himself on his foresight all those years ago.
    Project U.L.F. was created as a direct result of Leonardson’s information. As the mining fleets went beyond the boundaries of charted space they encountered new planets, which they duly reported to the World Space Exploration Agency (WSEA) who in turn informed the CSETI. When Leonardson had told Mannheim that this information was available, Mannheim had sprung upon the idea of sending out acquirement teams. Leonardson had told him that it was crazy; that these were unexplored planets and that Mannheim’s teams would have no idea what they would encounter. It would be far better to send experienced CSETI teams to make the initial investigations before squads of gung-ho trappers waded in. However, Mannheim was set on the idea. Project U.L.F. was born.
    “I’m…I’m sorry, Kurt,” Mannheim had stammered the apology under Leonardson’s look of contempt, forgetting in that brief moment who wielded the power in this relationship. “I had no idea it was you,” he continued, with a degree of smugness. Leonardson oozed hatred on the screen.
    The conversation had been short, practically a monologue. Leonardson had told him that his department had received some very sensitive information. Copies of these files had been encrypted and electronically mailed to Mannheim’s office. He was to access the files, view them and then delete them. Their contents were highly confidential.
    Leonardson had seemed rushed, nervous. He glanced furtively about throughout their conversation. When the call was finished, Mannheim was left somewhat bemused in the telelink booth, looking at a blank screen reflecting a miniature monochrome version of himself.
    Mannheim had returned to the table but Leonardson’s apparent uneasiness had intrigued him, and he