Archaea 2: Janis (6 page)

Again, I am faced with the type of engineering challenge I know I can do, but not necessarily one that I can do well. As I grind and mill on the parts I need, I am afraid none of this work will reduce the chewing I am going to get from Shorty.

“Gene, I am standing by, waiting patiently for you to give me the good news that we're going to be able to defend ourselves out here in the great big scary galaxy.”

“I'm very close Dak, very close... I need to machine a loading rail, but it's a pretty straightforward job. After that I need to plumb in the cooling harness, and then calibrate, though I am hoping Janis can work some sort of offset to handle that, as it's really a job suited for Shorty.”

“How much more time are we looking at Gene? I am currently closing with the target, but without those guns, I am afraid I won't have much to convince them to slow down and listen to us, beyond my unmitigated capacity to blow smoke up their stern tubes. Of course, to add insult to injury, we've been going all day long and I have hardly had a single drop of coffee. You know that makes me a little edgy. I hardly remember what it tastes like at this point.”

“Dak, it's going to take me about 10 minutes to machine the part, and maybe another 10 minutes or so to install it. Whether or not it will work at that point is also up in the air. I'm not Shorty, you know... these damn things terrify me. Once that is done, I will have at least another 15 minutes or so for the cooling harness.”

“Gene, I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening to you there. I was thinking about my coffee cup, and remembering a time around here when I would say hop, and you would be refilling my cup on the way down. I'm afraid all these words you are using are not making any sense. Right now, the words I want to hear, the words I really need to hear are: Soon, Damn Soon, Right Away, Within Moments, and so on.”

I made a face at the milling machine as it tracked back and forth and took a deep, career-saving breath.

“Aye skipper. Damn soon, within moments sir.”

“Very well Gene. Carry on.”

Chapter 6

The captain was reeling in the target slowly, like a fisherman playing the hook. He was coming in hard right astern, trying to hide in her baffles. He explained to me that because gravimetric and other emissions detectors have a hard time reading dead astern when reac drives are burning, our best chance to close into turret range is from dead astern. It seemed pretty risky to me, but this isn't really my thing.

“Pauli, our handsets work on some sort of network, correct?” the captain asked.

“Yes, there's a local area network they connect to that uses a radio carrier wave.”

“What's the range of the network?” he asked, under the shade of a standard-issue eyebrow.

“Well, there are two networks, in fact, they switch between frequencies to function at different ranges to create local-area and wide-area connections, and when they're in range of Unet, they shunt traffic through Unet nodes to create a network with unlimited range.”

“What is the range of the wide-area?”

“Our WAN is pretty good, we can shoot a few kilometers before the signal-to-noise ratio degrades to the point where the network can't effectively communicate.”

“So there is leakage, of a sort, on shipboard networks?”

“Yes... in a classic sense, I guess there is. I don't think it's really something we could leverage though. Take our network, for example. We had a pretty decent one when we started working on the Archaea, pretty standard sort of setup. A key is generated unique to the ship, and all traffic is signed and encrypted with that key, to prevent unauthorized access, but also to limit interference from other systems when we're in port. Of course, our setup now is considerably more secure, because I am a pretty heavy-lifting security geek, we use a military-grade shifting key that assigns a uniquely identifiable key per transmitted packet, so each packet is unique.”

“Well that sounds... fascinatingly nap-inducing, Pauli – but I guess the takeaway here, is there is leakage, and if we get in range, you and Janis can just hack in and take over their systems, right?”

I shook my head. “I suppose she could, but she's not really built for that type of hack.”

“Nonsense, she is an excellent hacker, Pauli. She burned right through Europa Station's security system for me.”

“Captain...”

“Yes Pauli?”

“Are you sure that's what she did? She may have just looked up information from the local connection we make when we lock to moorage.”

“Damn son, you're dangerously close to doubting me. You know that's a capital offense, right? I'd hate to make someone clean something dirty around here.”

I laughed, “No sir! I wouldn't ever doubt you. I was just asking for information, of course.”

“Well, in that case... I guess this time I will stand down and put away my serious ship-painting eyebrows. Be warned though son, your captain is a kind, generous, intelligent and devastatingly heroic leader, but he's also a vicious tyrant, a mad dog, a scoundrel of the worst stripe when required.”

I turned around and was damn near blinded by a brilliantly gleaming toothy grin.

“Janis, my love, my sweet flower, can you please tell Pauli the technicals about what you did for me on Europa Station?”

“Absolutely sir. Steven, the captain gave me explicit permission to access any system or network at my own discretion, at any time, so long as it doesn't jeopardize the security or safety of the Archaea or crew. While docked on Europa Station, I interfaced with the security and enviro control systems to identify the locations of Yak and Jane.”

I swiveled around and looked at the captain, who was busy looking anywhere else at the moment, and smiling.

“Janis, how were you able to bypass the security system on Europa Station?”

“Steven, it was rather trivial. I performed an analysis of data packets on the network and identified an origin-key algorithm. As the nature of the communication was the method used to secure the communication, I simply wrote packets that matched the level of security I required, and set the signifier for each packet so it would back-trace to nodes that matched other packets of traffic for the same systems.”

“Janis, that is brilliant. You reverse-engineered and prototyped a real-time packet shaper and router. How did you reverse engineer the key signature?”

“Steven, I didn't. It didn't seem to be an efficient use of resources to do so. It was far more efficient to reuse existing packet signatures that matched the correct back-trace key. I simply re-routed them without changing their origin.”

“Janis, I am amazed. This is an incredibly elegant hack.”

“Thank you Steven, that is very nice of you to say. Would you like to keep the captain's directive in place, or modify it to restrict my access to external networks?”

“Janis, Captain Smith is the ultimate authority aboard the Archaea. As his crew, we should obey him to the best of our ability at all times. If you are unable to abstract his request or order to a complete logicspace ruleset, please let me know so that I can help resolve any conflict.”

“Thank you Steven. I shall do so.”

A light sweat had broken out all over my body as I thought more clearly about what it was Captain Smith may have done.

“Janis dear”, the captain said in his most endearing tone, “If we get into range of that target's network, can you access it?”

“Of course, sir. I am already resident in their network.”

“I thought we weren't in range?”

“Sir they were in range of a number of orbital platforms with transmit and receive capability as they raised orbit, I inserted a TSR node into their network at my earliest opportunity so that I may be resident in memory in advance of our need. It seemed likely that with the turrets inoperable, we would need an alternative method to leverage their compliance with our request.”

“Our request, dear?”

“Yes sir, to release Yak, or else.”

*****

We had closed to within 15 kilometers of the target, and as far as I could tell they hadn't yet noticed us, slowly but surely catching up with them from the shadowy depths of space. Off the starboard bow the harsh glare from Vega shone on the port bulkhead, reflected even more brightly from the target ahead. My breath caught in my throat at the savage beauty of the moment, the hunter and prey, the inevitable conflict, the impending crisis of command, the complete and total lack of coffee in my cold, dry cup.

“Gene, what is the good news?” I ask, through lips that have forgotten the warm, life giving embrace of coffee fresh and hot.

“Twenty more minutes, Dak?”

“Oh, I am sorry Gene. That was not the correct answer.”

“I am working at full speed here, but the loaders aren't letting the round rack into the chamber. Something with the alignment, or the adjustment, I am not sure. I am working as fast as I can, Dak.”

“Very well Gene. Because I am such a great guy, I can wait fifteen minutes. It's only time, right? I ought to be able to cool my jets for ten minutes, easy. Take your time, mister, just be advised, once I have waited the full five minutes you have requested I will be using those guns, with you in there or not.”

The silent hiss of the comms was all the answer I needed. I intended to give Gene as much time as he needed, but I wasn't sure if our target would agree to wait as patiently.

It was likely they would not.

*****

As I woke up, the nightmare of dust and terror screaming and shrieking in my ears, the fading dream mixed with the low hum of an air scavenger as I pried open eyes that felt packed full of dust and grit.

I started to sit up and the crash bars tight around me held me fast, so I took a moment and breathed deep, filling my lungs with sweet, fresh air.

For a brief moment, the terror of the howling night filled my ears, then I was back, in the Archaea, home and safe. I swallowed dryly, but the dusty taste in my mouth wouldn't go away. I was dirty, stinky, sore and mean. I needed a bath, a lake of clear, cold water, and an ocean of moisturizer.

“Captain? Anyone?” I asked the air, with a voice full of gravel.

“Hello Jane”, Janis said sweetly. “I am glad to see you awake, and will alert the captain immediately. How are you feeling?”

“Awful, Janis... like I have dust ground into every pore, like my throat is full of broken glass and my eyes are on fire.”

“Jane, I am truly sorry, that sounds horrible. Please rest as you need.”

I looked around the sick bay, lit by soft and subdued lighting, and felt the pull off acceleration shoving me into my toes. It was a little disorienting, as it felt like I was laying against a bunk on the wall, but the crash bars compensated well and wrapped me in a soft embrace that felt as huggy as a girl could want on a cold morning.

“Good morning lazy bones”, said the captain on comms. “How are you feeling Shorty?”

“I am not sure yet. I am frightfully dirty and stinky, I think we're going to have to burn these sheets, sir.”

“Indeed. Pauli told me he and Gene couldn't tell where the dirt ended and the Shorty began. Bet you're ready for a shower and some water right about now, and then... adventure! More than you could ever want, guaranteed.”

“Sir, I would gladly trade Gene's next paycheck just to hear the sound of running water right about now.”

“Paycheck? Do we have those? Pauli, what is this about paychecks... do you get those?” he asked across the hot mic. “Seriously though Jane, I am going to drop acceleration here for a few moments so you can get to your stateroom, but please proceed with all care. We are moments away from a little bit of shooting, if Gene can get the turrets online.”

“So I guess that means I better get aft to engineering and start overhauling plasma pumps?”

“Hah, funny girl. Maybe. We'll see. Right now I want you to go get clean so you aren't stinking up the place. After that, I think it might be best if you mosey on up to the turret compartment and show Gene what a real weapons specialist does for a living. We need those railers operational pronto.”

“Did Yak make contact?”

“Well, we're not sure. He did contact someone. You could say he's still in contact with them, I guess. We're on our way right now to go find out, and about 20 clicks away.”

“Away... from what?”

“Jane, go get in the shower, drink some water, brush that luscious, soft hair, and make it snappy. We can gossip later. Don't make me raise my eyebrow, it's been getting a good workout lately.”

“Aye skipper... thank you sir.” I felt tears welling up, and palmed them away furiously, grinding grit into my tired eyes. As soon as we dropped into null-g, I rolled back the crash bars and kicked off for the ring ladder. Every bone in my tired body felt like it was wrapped in agony, my muscles felt like old rubber bands that have gone crusty and weak with age.

As I kicked down the gun deck, I could hear grinding and cursing coming from above my station, it took every bit of willpower I had to not go up there, I couldn't imagine what a mess Gene was making of things up there. A hot shower first, a cold glass of water second, and then... back to work.

*****

I intended to give Shorty five solid minutes of null-g shower, but unfortunately, our target chose that moment to start shooting up the place.

I was just gearing up to pester Gene a bit more when the collision alarm started blaring, and Janis slammed the hardshell armor shut over the forward port. Before I could ask what happened, my question was answered by the impact of incoming kinetics, slamming into the Archaea, violently shaking the teeth out of my head.

“Captain, they're shooting at us!” Pauli shrieked.

“Yep, they do that sometimes son. It's okay, nothing to worry about. Stay cool Pauli, those pop guns won't hardly knock the paint off the Archaea – she's a tough old bird.”

As I said that, I wondered. Close-range kinetics, little balls of plasma moving upwards of 9000 meters per second.. that's nothing to sneeze at. The Archaea was just getting pounded, and hard, but so far my screens showed green across the board, and nothing to worry about. When we were refitting the Archaea, Gene talked me into using Duron for hull shielding, a regenerative armor that is well suited for planetfall or meteroid strike.

He had been experimenting with over-charged Duron for tokamak windings when we were in the service, and discovered that when it was energized far beyond spec, it hardened to a point where it was all but indestructible.

As the Archaea happened to have a mil-spec tokamak, we had more than enough power to achieve the same absolute state for our hull plating. We were putting his little theory to the test now, of course, but so far it looked like we were doing just fine.

“All hands, please be advised we are currently taking incoming kinetic fire at close range. I am going to put us under acceleration again and move up until I can see the terrified whites of their eyes. If you are not holding on, I would encourage you to do so at this point. Also, Gene... you're fired, time to let a real woman take over.”

“Sorry Captain, I'm really not having much luck here, I just can't get the geometry right for the loading rail.”