Bypass Gemini (23 page)

“
Uh... ship? DAR? … Ma?” he said, hoping that there might be voice control that he’d been unaware of. Usually that only worked from the inside, but there was a first time for everything.

There was no reaction, save from the workers, who snickered amongst themselves. He gingerly reached out toward the ship, squinting his eyes and turning his head away. Finally his fingers touched the surface. They almost sizzled from the sun-broiled metal, but there was no bolt of lightning or other excitement. After breathing a sigh of relief, he climbed up onto the recessed steps and tapped the control for the cockpit, which opened.

“
I guess it’s okay now,” he called over his shoulder.

“
Right, get to work, boys,” Hendricks ordered.

A worker with a lit cutting torch stepped toward the ship. When he came within a meter of the ship, the cockpit suddenly snapped shut.

“
Unauthorized personnel within minimum proximity. Please clear the hull and standby for electrical defense activation,” warned the external address system, speaking in what appeared to be one of Ma’s many voices. Evidently this was one of the donor systems for her vocal interface.

“
Whoa, hey okay, back off!” Lex shouted, dropping to the scalding hot ground and covering his head.

When the worker moved away, the ship chirped and proclaimed, “Proximity clear, defense disengaged.”

“
I am losing my patience, Mr. Alexander,” Patel said sternly.

“
Okay, everyone stay back, and I’ll get in and try to turn it off,” Lex said.

“
And what is to keep you from simply escaping at that point?” asked Patel.

“
Well, the mooring cables, for one,” he suggested.

This did not seem to satisfy his host.

“
Fine, I won’t get in. I’ll just reach in. That way Mr. Trigger-Happy over there can shoot me in the ass if I try something.”

“…
Do it,” Patel said warily.

Lex climbed up, popped the cockpit, and reached inside. Stretching as far as he could, he managed to reach the command button on the console.

“
Voice interface activated,” the ship stated.

“
Computer, deactivate security system.”

“
Modifying safety and security settings requires level 0 access. You have level 1 access.”

“
Um... grant access to these other guys.”

“
Increasing access list requires level 0 access. You have level 1 access.”

“
Anyone have any ideas?” Lex called over his shoulder.

“
Stop toying with me, Mr. Alexander,” Patel growled.

“
I’m not toying with you! This isn’t my ship! How many different ways do I have to say it!? Look, I’ll just grab the case and hand it over, and then you guys can blow the stupid ship up, for all I care.”

“…
Very well,” Patel said.

“
Move slow, Alexander. I’ve got your balls in my crosshairs,” Hendricks warned.

“
I assure you, I wouldn’t dare do something that would endanger my groinal region.”

Slowly, Lex bent over the edge of the cockpit. The case was under the seat, and reaching it from the outside was going to be tricky. His fingers had just brushed against the handle when a blinking red light on the console suddenly turned green.

“
Secure link established,” the ship proclaimed.

“
I swear to God I didn’t do that!” Lex squeaked, crossing his legs.

“
Finally!” came a voice over the ship’s com system. It was Karter. “What are you trying to do, steal my ship? Control override.”

Instantly the ship lurched upward, taking Lex with it. He scrambled for a grip, sending his wadded up flight suit tumbling inside. A bullet ricocheted off of the hull an eighth of an inch from his thigh. A moment later, the ship reached the ends of the mooring lines, coming to a complete stop. Lex was not so lucky. He continued under his own momentum until his back collided with the open cockpit hatch. He bounced painfully off and landed fully in the cockpit. Hendricks’ gun barked a few more times, joined a moment later by a few more in the fully automatic range.

“
I told you it would take seventy-two hours. That means you come and get your old ship in seventy-two hours! No more gallivanting, I’m bringing that bird home. Automatic Pilot: Engage. Manual Control: Lock Out. Destination Select: Home. Activate.”

The engines groaned and strained against the mooring lines as bullets continued to pepper the belly of the ship, now joined by some of the more colorful energy weapons. With a clank, the cockpit hatch locked shut again. Finally the engines flared and the mooring lines snapped, sending the DAR launching into the sky. It was out of the atmosphere and well on its way to FTL speed before Lex managed to climb into the seat.

Behind him on the ground. Hendricks was screaming profanities at the men while Patel shook his head, grin back on his face.

“
You know something. I cannot decide whether that man is an absolute genius or the luckiest idiot I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“
I’ll track him down and get him back here in two hours, Mr. Patel,” Hendricks assured.

“
Don’t bother. Is it active, Preethy?”

“
It is, sir,” she replied after consulting her datapad.

“
Then we shall deal with this later. Back to work, all. We’ve got a schedule to keep.”

The DAR carrying Lex settled down in the hangar just under a day later. It would have taken Lex considerably longer if he’d had control of the ship. This is chiefly because Lex has petty human concerns like survival. The course traveled by the ship was nearly a straight line, which passed through no fewer than six heavily patrolled regions of space, directly through the center of a debris strewn nebula, and deep enough into the corona of a red giant to risk all sorts of nasty consequences at superluminal speeds. Somehow, though, he arrived in one piece, though the waste disposal system of the pilot’s chair got quite a workout.

He peeled himself out of the seat and crawled shakily to the catwalk of Karter’s hangar building when the cockpit finally opened. He hadn’t even bothered to change out of the construction uniform during the trip.

“
Welcome back, Mr. Alexander. The bus is waiting for you outside to take you to Karter’s lab,” said the helpful voice of the computer.

“
Yeah... I’m... just going to sit down here for a minute,” he said, slowly collapsing to the catwalk.

“
Is there something wrong?”

“…
Yeah. Yeah, there is something wrong. Were you in on that little jaunt through space he sent me on just now? Did you know what he had in mind?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you were okay with it?”

“
Your survival odds ranged from ninety-two to ninety-eight percent, based upon known factors. Intervention did not appear necessary.”

“
You were okay with ninety-two?”

“
The mean was ninety-six point eight five percent. My default safety threshold is ninety-five percent.”

“
Maybe next time aim for ninety-nine.”

“
The survivability of your departure through the reduced exit window was only eighty-four percent. Perhaps your perceived helplessness due to the lock out of manual controls sensitized you to the risks involved for the return trip.”

Lex stared blankly for a moment.

“
Did he program you to psychoanalyze people, or was that your idea?”

“
Careful analysis of intention, motivation, and mental disposition has become an indispensable skill when monitoring and reacting to Karter.”

“
Yeah, I guess it would.”

A moment passed.

“
Was your trip successful?”

“
Well, it was very productive. I’ve still got the package, but now I’m pretty sure I pissed off the mob.”

“
That is an undesirable outcome.”

“
That’s one way to put it.”

A few more moments passed.

“
Please gather your personal possessions from the vessel. The bus is waiting for you outside to-”

“
JUST GIVE ME A MINUTE!” he snapped, shutting his eyes tight and cupping his forehead.

“
You are showing strong indicators of stress. Would you like to talk about it?”

Lex sighed and climbed to his feet, beginning to fetch his things from the ship.

“
I’m screwed, Ma. I’m screwed, and I have no idea what to do. The biggest company in the universe wants me dead, and they are working both sides of the law to do it. I don’t have anyone to turn to. There ISN’T anyone to turn to! And I don’t even know why they’re after me! Evidently they think that this big pile of papers has something of huge importance that could do major damage to the company,” he said, shaking the battered case, “but I don’t know what it is! I don’t know if there’s a way out of this one, Ma. I can’t even turn on my slidepad and call for help, because the second I do, they’ll be all over me, and probably whoever I called, too.”

“
You are faced with a number of uncertainties. The human mind is often stressed by the presence of unknowns. One can remove unknowns by increasing data or processing available data,” Ma said, “Figuring out what the contents of the case represent could alleviate some of your stress and present new options.”

“
Yeah, I know. That’s what this whole trip was about, but I came up with nothing.”

“
It is impossible to come up with nothing. The passage of time inevitably brings information. You may simply not realize the usefulness of the information that you acquired, or perhaps the sparseness of the information is making connections between facts unclear. It is important to interpret information as a whole.”

“
These are very ‘computer’ answers you’re giving, Ma,” he said.

“‘
Human’ answers have thus far been unfruitful.”

“
Good point.”

“
I suggest that you present your dilemma to Karter. When a problem interests him, he often fixates on it to the exclusion of all else until it is solved, and he is quite skilled in problem solving. I am similarly skilled with data indexing and processing.”

“
... Yeah. What the hell. It isn’t like I’ve got any other options. It can’t hurt, right?”

“
Actually, Karter was exceedingly displeased with your lack of punctuality regarding the return of his ship. His actions are likely to reflect his displeasure. However, as your pilot privileges are hereby revoked on the Delta Astro-Recon, Type D, you will need to meet with him to attain ownership of your repaired ship if you intend to leave the planet.”

“
You aren’t filling me with confidence, Ma.”

“
Forewarned is forearmed, Mr. Alexander. To that end, please be aware that the external temperature is negative twenty-five degrees Celsius, and do not forget to prepare yourself for local gravitational intensity.”

Lex looked down at his desert gear.

“
The next time I embark on a planet hopping jaunt, I’m packing a suitcase.”

“
That is advisable.”

He spent a moment working up the nerve to sprint to the open door of the bus, then repeated the process when he arrived at the lab. Ma lit a path for him that led down a few floors to the Hall of Rejects. There was the distinctive sound of an impact wrench buzzing through the halls like a mechanical duck. The lights were still indicating his location, but it was hardly a challenge to locate him. The inventor was standing in the middle of one of the larger workshops, bolting on the cowling to some sort of turbine.

“
Karter?” Lex said.

His host’s head snapped toward him, and in a flash he fumbled for a hammer on a nearby work cart and whipped it at Lex’s head. The pilot only just managed to pull out of the way.

“
What the hell!?” Lex exclaimed, jumping aside as a wrench twirled toward him.

“‘
What the hell’ is right!” Karter jabbed, stalking toward Lex and grabbing a crowbar. “I said seventy-two hours. Seven two. You were supposed to borrow that ship for three earth days and bring it back to get the replacement.”

Lex backed away, hands raised in placation. Karter wasn’t screaming. He was griping in a manner that, frankly, seemed appropriate for the minor infraction that had been committed. The tone of voice was about two dozen notches of intensity below his actions, which were positively homicidal. It was more than a little unnerving.

“
Whoa, hey!” he objected, pulling his head out of range of a few angry swipes, “So I was a little late!”

“
A little late? Come ON, Lex. How long was he gone, Ma?”

“
Three hundred and fifteen hours.”

“
That’s four and a half times as long as I said!”

“
4.375,” Ma corrected.

“
I was rounding,” he groaned, swiping the hook of the crowbar at Lex’s leg.

The nimble younger man managed to avoid getting his thigh skewered, but Karter got the hook behind his knee and pulled his leg out from under him, sending him painfully to the floor. With a terrifyingly tranquil look in his eye, he raised the bar.

“
Seems to me that you were trying to steal it. You were welching on a deal.”

“
Mr. Dee, stop that.”

“
Stay out of this, Ma,” he snapped, stomping a boot on Lex’s chest to keep him from escaping, knocking the air out of him in the process. “I told him seventy-two hours.”

“
No, you told ME seventy-two hours. I told him.”