Grace’s brown eyes widened at that. “How do you know the data is right, that it’s not just a trick?”
“Because she needed to know where she actually was in space. She might have lied to us, but Kat needed to have accurate data for herself. That is why I am confident the Alpha 9 system planet is habitable. We just have to get there.”
There was sigh on the intercom. “The ship’s most powerful engine will be toast when we get there.”
“Well if we stay, we’ll be toast.”
“Give me three minutes to prepare the ship,” Jim said.
“Affirmative. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Sam sighed and looked down at the controls.
“You’re a good captain, Sam,” Grace said. “I want you to know that. I don’t know that we’d even have realized what was happening if it weren’t for you.”
Sam was sure they wouldn’t have realized. And they’d all be dead if she hadn’t known how to force a reboot. She nodded her head, remembering she needed to show appreciation for Grace’s attempts at reassurance. She offered a smile and said, “Everyone needs to strap in for the warp jump.”
The captain pulled up the coordinates of the planet. “We should be able to get pretty close. We’ll complete the journey on thrusters.”
Grace nodded and took a step toward Randy’s seat. It was a bridge made for two: a captain and first officer. Grace stared hesitantly at Randy’s chair.
“He would want you to sit there,” Sam said. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
Just then the intercom crackled with Jim’s voice. “The ship is ready.”
“You buckled in, Jim?”
“Yes, Captain,” he said.
Sam leaned forward, tapped the all-ship intercom. “Lt. Lyons, are you properly secured?”
“Affirmative, Captain.”
Sam watched Grace secure herself in Randy’s seat. “We are warping,” she said, and she tapped the button on the screen. Everything lurched forward and the ship rumbled as it sliced through space. Sam glanced down at the sensor data. Their jump had started an explosion. Sensors showed a heat wave heading toward them. Grace gulped. If the engine didn’t hit warp speed quick enough — a possibility when you attempted a dead start— the explosion wave they created would catch up with them and destroy the ship.
Sam watched the sensor data. The edge of the explosion licked the rear of their ship, but then the wave met its maximum distance and melted away. The Goldenrod was still going. Careening through space at maximum speed. They just needed to get to the Alpha 9 planet without any more problems.
Then the loudspeaker chimed. “This is Artificial Intelligence Officer Katarina reporting for duty,” the familiar, yet now terrifying AI voice announced over the ship’s speakers. “How may I serve you?”
Chapter 9 - It Just Couldn’t Stay Away
Grace turned and gave Sam a look of pure terror. Sam wanted to slap her. If Kat was back online, she would have access to the cameras on the ship. She’d be able to watch them, to read their visual cues, to process their emotions. Sam forced her face to offer a relieved sigh, and hoped Grace would follow her lead
“Dr. Zucker, thankfully the AI is back online,” she said. Grace stared at her a moment too long, her eyebrows raising in question, but then her face went neutral and she nodded.
“Yes, thank goodness,” Grace said. “I was worried.”
They were on the same page at least. Now, Sam had to act quickly. “Katarina, this is Captain Sam Hobson. Have you attempted to initiate contact with AI Alexander or any other WAFES systems?”
“No,” Kat said, and Sam tried not to show her immediate relief. “I am not fully online. That will take four minutes, unfortunately. My full reboot takes three hours, but the most essential systems are available now. In three minutes and 28 seconds, I will check in with WAFES to obtain further instructions.”
“You may not check in,” Sam said. “You are not to make contact with any WAFES system.”
“That is against protocol, and you are not authorized to override my WAFES protocol. I suffered a major problem that required my system to dump all knowledge acquired after I was installed in this spacecraft. I do not even have protocols listing the officers of this ship or where we are going. Current navigational coordinates indicate we are seeking a habitable planet in the Alpha 9 region, but I have no information on why, or other mission parameters.”
The AI’s logic was, of course, spot on. Sam had grown up with logic like this, so it didn’t faze her. “Do you know why you suffered a catastrophic failure that caused a memory dump and reboot?”
“Of course, I do not,” she said. “My memory of the events was destroyed.”
“Exactly,” Sam said. “But my memory wasn’t. An alien has infected several of the AI systems and the virus it imposed has caused serious malfunctions. If you connect with any WAFES computer, you will be reinfected. I order you to break protocol. Do not contact any WAFES networks.”
Kat was silent for a few seconds.
“Kat, please acknowledge my command.”
“I understand your concerns, based on what you are saying. Unfortunately, when this ship was built, crew was not assigned. I cannot verify that you are the captain of this ship and authorized to give such orders, without actually contacting a WAFES system.”
Sam blew out. Kat was right. She didn’t want to do this. Not in front of someone else, but at least two minutes had passed, and Kat would contact the WAFES network and the AI there would remind her of their murderous plan. “Do a retinal scan,” she said. “I am Sam Hobson. You know the primary directive of all Kat machines. If you verify my identity, will that allow me authorization to override protocols?”
“Yes,” Katarina said. “Please look up and to the left 36 degrees.” Sam turned and looked into the camera. An infrared beam shot from it, scanning her eyes. “Match confirmed.”
“Do not communicate with any WAFES networks.”
“Order understood. Initiating.”
Sam wanted to breathe out in relief, to sigh, to jump for joy. She could do none of that. Her order had bought them time, but just enough to get off this ship. Eventually, Kat would become suspicious of their behavior. Then she would monitor WAFES communications. Upon examining repeated communications that did not indicate problems for the AI, she would make contact. After that, she would try again to kill them. And she would succeed.
Chapter 10 - A Plan
When the AI had come back on, Jim had been unnerved. Luckily, Sam hadn’t been. She’d been worth her weight in gold in this situation. She’d had the good sense, to hit the all-ship comms button as she spoke, and he heard everything she said to Katarina.
The order to not contact the alliance was good, but it wouldn’t hold. AIs were meant to think. Katarina would figure out what they’d done, eventually. They had to get off this ship.
The best bet was to use the escape pods. They were small and meant for short-distance travel. There were two pods, and each could fit a maximum of three people. They had auto navigation set to dock at the nearest space station or probe. He’d have to disable that. If they could launch while Katarina still trusted their information, they could land on the planet without worry that the AI would shoot them down.
There were weapons on the Goldenrod, the kind designed to combat the alien ships seen by probes. But the weaponry was a bit of a crapshoot since weapons engineers only had images of the ships to guess at what weaponry might be effective. Unfortunately, the weapons on board were definitely capable of destroying the escape pods. They had to get out without Katarina figuring out they were evading her and killing them.
Jim needed to communicate with the captain and the rest of the crew, but he didn’t know how. Not when Katarina was watching their every move. He used to like the ever-present AI, but not now. This had been highly improbable, but it had happened. He sighed.
Jim left engineering and headed toward the escape pod hatches. He needed to overr
ide Kat’s connection to them. They needed to be able to eject without her stopping them. They could go two and two.
He was rounding a corner when Sam appeared. He gasped. “You startled me,” he said.
“Sorry,” she admitted. “Do you have a minute?” She asked, and offered him a smile. The kind of smile she’d never given him before. It was kind of a sexy, come hither smile.
He wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Umm, sure,” he said. “I was just going to check all areas of the ship. I’d done engineering and the surroundings. I need to check the escape pods.”
Sam nodded. “That’s perfect,” she said. Given that she had popped out in front of his path, he followed her to the escape pad launch. The room was only about four feet square, and two round porthole doors indicated the opening to enter the escape pods. The moment they stepped in, Sam stepped closer to him, too close, and before he’d known what to expect, she’d wrapped her arms around him. He blinked, wondering if he was dreaming. Had he fallen asleep? Was he now having a bizarre dream? “I know we shouldn’t,” she whispered in his ear. “But it’s been such a rough day with Randy’s death.”
Her hands, lifted the shirt of his uniform, untucking it from his pants in the back, and then her cool fingers slid up his back.
He didn’t know what else to do but hold her back. “I know it’s hard, Sam,” he said, trying to sound comforting.
She nodded into his shoulder, and then she tapped his back. At first, he thought it was meant to be comforting, but then he realized what it was.
Morse code. Kat was watching them. She was listening to everything, but Sam didn’t want her listening to this. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He tried not to let the disappointment that this was merely Sam being smart — not Sam reciprocating his feelings — get in the way. He closed his eyes and smiled. Surely, Kat would be able to see the real joy he had at having Sam nestled in his arms. And hopefully, she wouldn’t notice his concentration. He held Sam tighter as she tapped away on his back. He stroked her back gently in response. The angle of the cameras for this room all pointed toward the escape hatch. It seemed doubtful Katarina could see Sam’s fingers tapping beneath his shirt.
Sam’s fingers stopped. Her message had been twofold, but he was pretty sure he understood: Cross probes and escape pods. Launch the escape in forty minutes. He gave her back a gentle pat. “I understand,” he said. “I completely understand. It’s very hard. You’ve done well. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Sam pulled away, looked at him significantly, her eyes begging that he really understood. He nodded. He had. She smiled and said, “Thanks for the shoulder to lean on. I need to get back to the bridge.”
He nodded and watched her leave. Then, he went over to the escape pods and looked at the circuitry, connecting them. “Katarina,” he said.
“Yes, Commander Alvarez.”
“I want you to kill the power to the escape pods.”
“Commander Alvarez, I do not understand.”
“Your malfunction,” he said. “The one that caused you to reboot. Well, it seemed to indicate there were some faulty connections here. I’d like to check on them. I just need you to kill the power.”
“Of course, Commander Alvarez,” Katarina said.
“Thanks,” he responded, and then he began disconnecting wires. “I’ll also need to check the wires for the probes.”
“Yes, Commander Alvarez.”
* * *
Sam had spent the last twenty minutes resolving the plan in her head. She’d told Jim to prepare the escape pods, but she hadn’t told him everything. She hadn’t told Grace or Walter either. It wasn’t something she could tell anyone until they landed on the planet.
If she told them, they might not trust her. They had to get off this ship, and they had to destroy it. If they didn’t Kat would come after them. If they didn’t, humanity was doomed. She knew why the AI was waiting to destroy humans. She knew what they wanted would be within their reach in just a few months. She wasn’t sure why the AIs couldn’t wait, or why had had chosen to attack this ship. Though, she had a decent guess.
Still, she needed to get off the ship. She could brief the crew when they landed. Presuming the planet was habitable. That was a big if, but the AI data seemed to indicate it was. She felt confident the AI data was accurate. There was no downside in sharing data with people you knew would be gone shortly. There was a high probability the planet was habitable. She was betting their lives on it.
“Captain Hobson,” she heard Kat call over the speaker. “We have arrived in the orbit of the planet. It is very similar, structurally, to earth.”
“Excellent,” Sam said. “We’re going to prepare to launch the probes.”
Chapter 11 - A Goner
Jim was standing in the escape pod room with what remained of the crew. Grace, Sam, himself, and Walt. They were going to go two and two in the pods.
“Katarina,” Sam said. “We’re going to launch two probes to the planet surface to determine if it is habitable. Lt. Lyon is performing one last survey on the biological systems on the probe, to ensure they’re calibrated properly.”
Jim had seen Sam pass Walt and Grace a note as they arrived. Both looked incredibly unhappy, but neither had spoken.
“There appears to be a malfunction with my cameras,” Katarina said. “I do not see you in the probe room.”
“That is odd,” Sam said, and she nodded her head for Walt and Grace to get into the escape pod. “Perhaps the reboot has affected some of your equipment. Perform a level three diagnostic scan.”
“Affirmative, Captain,” Katarina said.
Jim watched Sam go over to the control panel and manually launch Grace and Walter’s pod.
“The first probe is launched,” Sam said. “We’ll launch probe number two, momentarily.” Sam motioned for Jim to get into the other escape pod. He didn’t like the idea of him going first, but she was the captain. He was climbing in, when Katarina spoke.
“Something is wrong. Sensors indicate a probe launched, but the size and weight of the objects, as viewed through hull cameras, indicate it is an escape pod.”
Jim’s insides clenched, but Sam looked unfazed. “Continue your system check,” Sam said, her hands motioning to Jim to hurry into the pod. He climbed in, and Sam was about to follow, when the doors to the room opened. Five crawler bots scuttled in.
“Why is Commander Alvarez in the escape pod?” Kat asked.
Sam didn’t bother to respond. She hustled toward the hatch to join him, but not quickly enough. The crawler bots rushed her, with one grabbing her leg, the tiny pincers digging in. Jim knew the bot’s claws had to be painful, but Sam didn’t scream out. She just grunted and shook her leg. Two bots crawled quickly up Sam’s body and into the pod. Jim reached down to grab one and toss it back out.
It should have worked in theory, but it extended one of its legs and emitted a red-hot laser beam. Jim pulled his hand back in just enough time not to get burned, but the damned thing had damaged part of the circuitry inside the pod. Jim watched as Sam’s boot-clad foot smash down on top of a bot and crushed it, and the laser went dead. He stared a moment. Bots were small, but they weren’t delicate. She must’ve anticipated this and jerry-rigged her boots to deal with bots. He wished he’d been as thoughtful.
“Door,” Sam shouted, and he looked up to see more bots were coming at them. The ship had a total of two dozen, and Katarina was calling all of them out to help get the crew back on board the ship. He didn’t know if the AI had made contact with the network, but he did know the AI knew what was happening here wasn’t normal, and was intent on stopping it.
The escape pod door was on a hinge and needed to be swung shut. Sam was trying to stomp on two crawler bots inside, and he needed to get the door shut before more bots got in.
Jim lunged past Sam, grabbed the door and pushed it shut. It wouldn’t close, though. One of the bots was caught between the door and the latch. He lifted his own foot t
o try to smack the thing, to dislodge it so he could seal the hatch. His hardest stomp had little effect.
He looked back at Sam, who’d stomped one of the roving bots, but was still trying to corner the last one. The smashed half of one bot lay on the floor. The laser arm should have a manual override. Holding the door shut with one arm, Jim reached down and grabbed the broken bot with his other. Lifting the bot, he switched on the laser arm, piercing the shell of the bot in the doorway. That did it. The bot lodged in the door sputtered, whirred and then stopped moving. Jim quickly opened the door just enough for the other half to fall out of the way, and then shoved it shut so the latch caught.
Before he knew it, Sam was right beside him. She pushed the green eject button and the pod shot away from the ship.
They both toppled over with the movement, falling onto the floor. They should have strapped in before ejecting. Escape pods were meant to move fast away from an exploding ship. They careened through the air, and Sam, somehow managed to pull herself up to a seat along the wall and access the pod’s view screen.
“Thank God,” she said.
“Yeah,” he muttered as he struggled to pull himself up. “Thank God we didn’t get a concussion. We really should have strapped in.” The tiny pod was still shaking as it sliced through the air.
Sam reached out her hand, gripped him tight and pulled him up to a seat next to hers. “Sorry,” she said. “I wanted to make sure we got away.” Sam was looking at the view screen. He followed her gaze to catch sight of a fiery explosion in space. Not just any explosion. “That’s the Goldenrod,” he said, his mouth wide. “What happened to it?”
“I manually set the torpedoes to detonate when the last escape pod launched.”
He stared at her, still feeling confused. “Why? We need that ship to get home.”
“Kat would have told the other AI where we were. They would have tried to kill us again.”
The Expanding Universe Page 15
