by Kate Kyle
"But we only operated on radio, this is the Net that's down, right? These two are not directly connected," Jax said. Her cheeks were burning. How this was even possible that her ship… "My ship's computer had shut everything down while we were underway. Somewhere on the edge of the Belt. You know, you saw it," she addressed Lulu.
Lulu nodded.
"But why did your computer shut the system down?" SingMa asked.
"Emergency event," Jax said hesitantly.
"What was that emergency event?"
"The computer never identified it," she replied, trying very hard to keep her voice steady.
Yeah, there was an event, but why would that matter?
Jax turned to keep an eye on the screens. She focused on the growing silhouette of Segedunum station. The rings were moving at a steady pace, just like before. At least, the station was still operational. Well, the spin gravity was working… The shuttle would be docking soon.
"Can you think of anything, Jax?" SingMa asked.
Jax felt their glances on her back.
The fact was that anyone checking the ship's memory before the shutdown would see it. There was little point in trying to hide it.
"Maybe," she said cautiously. "I had to laser a piece of rock travelling too fast towards one of the exploratory stations in the Asteroid Belt."
"You blasted it with a laser, you mean?" SingMa asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Jax asked, turning back to face them.
"The problems with the scientists at Vindolanda started after they tried melting the piece of rock they found," SingMa said.
The man certainly knew a great deal.
"And how do you know that?"
"My… friend, Julie has mentioned it," SingMa replied. "She also said the geologist made a silly remark that that the rock came alive when he fired at it. Which was when they started seeing some strange properties, but they didn't get too far. They all took ill shortly afterwards," he added quietly. "A few standard days later."
"That makes sense, and I can relate this to what I've seen so far," Lulu said. "You hit a rock on your way here, right? And the suspicion is that the piece of asteroid that was captured by Vindolanda was a piece of debris from some strange incident a little longer ago. Some sort of diplomatic mess-up."
"Ah, not that… conspiracy theory," Jax groaned and gave Lulu and SingMa a brief summary of what Rutger had told her.
"I've never heard about that event, but the whole thing makes sense to me," Lulu said and sighed. "I'm sorry, but it looks like an element from the original rock must have travelled with you, on your ship's hull. Maybe that fast-travelling piece of space debris was a fragment of the original asteroid destroyed by the PanAm ship? And I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that the fragment of the asteroid Vindolanda caught was part of that destroyed rock, too. It can be actually calculated," she added, drawing her eyebrows in.
"But how did it all end up in the network? I didn't connect!" Jax said so loud it almost sounded like a shout.
"Hey, peace to all, nobody is accusing you," SingMa said. "But the timing is right. You hit a piece of rock it landed on your hull-"
"Hit my external aerial. The one that connects to the PSSNet," Jax admitted reluctantly.
"Ah, that makes sense…" SingMa said. He paused. "So, if the rock indeed comes to life when hit by a source of energy, it could have done something with your aerial. Then, when in dock, it could have crawled from your aerial, or the hull, onto some other Net terminal."
"That's just crazy," Lulu said, absentmindedly.
Jax turned to face her. The swarm specialist was sitting in her seat, looking away. Her pale, petite face furrowed.
"But it looks like the pieces of code, were indeed released from the rock once some energy was applied to it. Bizarre."
The screen flashed - a sign the shuttle was approaching the docking bays.
Jax rushed to the control panel. Crap, she almost missed it!
"Bizarre, not bizarre, we'll be landing in…" Jax glanced at the landing tachometer. "Thirty seconds."
They docked. Jax and SingMa draped Rutger's arms around their shoulders and walked slowly. Lulu offered to help, but they declined.
"We need someone with operating hands," Jax ordered.
Rutger breathed heavily but was still asleep and still under the influence of the taser. It would last for another twenty more minutes at least.
They went through the airlocks and stood in the dark, cold hangar again. Lulu tried to find a way to turn the light on, but Jax dismissed that.
"The lights may be out. Don't waste time," she ordered. "How are we reaching the hospital?"
"Just as we got here, with the mini car. Train may be faster if it's still in operation," SingMa suggested. "A vehicle should be outside the gate."
They found the minicar, exactly where they had left it and climbed into it. It was a tight fit, but at least they were all together.
Okay, they were all together and Jax could keep an eye on everyone.
Strange how her paranoia cycled through trusting and not trusting all three of her current … fellow… whatever they were.
Team members?
Yeah, but the term implied that Lulu was on the same side.
Was she?
Despite all that Lulu Zhou had said in the past thirty minutes, Jax had her doubts.
The vehicle drove itself out of the dead-looking shuttle port right into… a dead-looking corridor.
"Minicar, stop," SingMa suddenly ordered. "I need to check something."
The vehicle slowed down and pulled up to the wall.
"What are you doing?" Jax yelled. "You're delaying us."
"No, no, we must…" SingMa stuttered. There was a note of anxiety in his voice. "The lights should be on. There should be humming of the air recycling system. Can you hear it?" His voice climbed an octave as he spoke.
Jax listened out for a few seconds.
"You're right. It's very quiet," she said.
"Shit," SingMa said. "The life support systems are down. It must be the virus."
21
Jax
Jax took a deep breath. Was she panicking or did the air feel thinner?
"The whole station down? Life support down? The hospital, too?"
Was there even any point in trying to reach the clinic?
"The hospital has a backup generator, I'm sure," SingMa replied, starting the vehicle again. "But we can't exclude it, until we're actually there."
"Can you activate the lights?" Lulu asked.
"Sorry, I don't think it's a good idea. The car will find its way, but we need to save the battery charge as much as possible," SingMa said.
"Let's hope it's enough to get us to the clinic," Jax murmured, welcoming the sensation of the moving air on her face.
Faster… faster…
They arrived at the clinic a few minutes later. After kilometers of racing through dark and cold hallways, Jax welcomed the light on the fake ancient porch and the buzzing that surrounded the building.
"The back-up generator is working," SingMa explained, as they dragged a half-awake Rutger out of the vehicle.
As they climbed the steps, two people in Si-Carb uniforms burst through the double doors and raced down the stairs.
"One might think the building's on fire," Jax murmured under her breath.
"Don't jinx it," SingMa replied. "There is some nervous energy around, to be sure."
Jax opened her mouth to snap something back at him, but the moment the glass double door closed smoothly behind them, a chill ran down her spine.
Maybe it was just the temperature indoors, which must have dropped by at least twenty degrees.
They found a wheelchair in a nearby transport bay. Fortunately, it was fully charged. They sat Rutger in it and set off to the neuroscience department.
"So, what's the plan, Professor?" Jax asked when they reached their destination.
Yeah, she did use SingMa's favorite term, and with a sarcastic
note.
Lulu stared at her.
"I'm sorry?" she replied in a way that Jax was sure was not an apology.
Not another game…
"You realize you're the only person who can talk to the medical staff here and get Rutger the appropriate care, right?' Jax said, trying her best to sound neutral. "SingMa and I shouldn't even be here," she added glancing at the man.
"She's right, Professor," SingMa said meekly. "We need your help with that."
"Okay, okay, I've got a plan," Lulu replied. "We'll get Rutger admitted. I'll stay in the clinic and do my bit here. You need to find another network to do your work."
"Why can't we just stay in the hospital?" Jax asked. "Not only is the network up, but so is the power and the heating," she added, hugging herself. Despite the suit's insulation, the chill in the air drilled through her.
"What if the clinic's network goes down due to our activity?" SingMa asked, looking at her with reproach. "There has to be an alternative."
"But this way, aren't we putting more facilities at risk? What if everything in the city goes down?" Jax asked. She dreaded another journey through the dark, cold, stuffy hallways, not just because of the conditions. It was the suffocating sense of hope escaping as fast as the heat from the station.
"Then, we'll all be doomed," Lulu said, coldly. "Whatever we do carries a risk. There is no better alternative. All the choices are bad, including me using the hospital's network," she added quietly. "I'd better get on with my plan." She crossed to the door marked Neuroscience Department.
"Where do you suggest we go?" Jax asked looking expectantly at SingMa.
SingMa pursed his thin lips and looked away.
"Did you say that your ship's network has been down since before you arrived at the port?" Lulu suddenly asked.
"Yes, and it's still down," Jax replied.
"We can use your ship's computer to connect to the network and search for those little buggers," SingMa said.
The suggestion sounded crazy and dangerous to Jax, but he probably had a point.
"Are you sure this is going to work? If the network is down?" Jax asked, anxiously.
"I don't think the network itself is down," SingMa said, still looking away. "It's the various elements connected to it. When this all started, I saw the gates, I mean the access nodes, shutting down. The network itself was still be up."
"What does that mean?" Jax asked.
"If you think about it, it's very clever. The virus is cutting off access of various elements of the main system. Think of it like the city's water supply. If you have a dangerous substance in one part of the network, closing the gates where the poisoned reservoir connects with the main network prevents the poison from spreading everywhere, while keeping the rest of the network going. Most networks have alternative connections, which will start kicking in with the outages."
Jax stiffened at the thought of a poisoned reservoir. She had completely forgotten about this - one of the trigger incidences that got her into this trouble in the first place. If Hunter hadn't attempted his stupid joke with the water supply, maybe she would still be with him, and maybe they would have ended up marrying and having the baby together.
Ha-ha.
The idea of Jax being a mother…
She winced.
Back to reality, Jax.
"Okay, it makes sense, but if you then open the gate and connect your reservoir, which may or may not have a toxic chemical in it, to the mains, sooner or later you're going to end up with the poison both in your tanks and in the main system," she said.
"Not really," SingMa said, looking at her. "The bug you brought is already in the system. It wouldn't matter."
"So, all you want is my ship's computer as the connection to the Net?"
"That's right."
Jax considered the option.
"That means, my ship's computer will likely be infected with whatever is already swimming in the main sewage?"
"Unfortunately, so," SingMa said.
"I don't like that idea."
"Have a better one?"
Jax spread her arms out.
"Of course, I don't."
"So, we'll do it then," SingMa said and turned around.
"Is he admitted?" he asked, addressing Lulu, who was heading back in their direction.
"Waiting for the response from the medics," Lulu replied. "Leave it to me."
"I'm not going until I see that Rutger is taken care of by an appropriately trained and trustworthy medical professional," Jax fired off.
Lulu arched her eyebrows.
"Sure, why would you trust me."
"Professor, we-" SingMa rushed to say.
"Be careful with the 'we'," Jax snapped back.
"Fine. I'm okay with you not trusting me," Lulu said simply. "Where were you planning to go?"
"To Jax's ship," SingMa replied, before Jax could protest. "What should we be looking for?"
"Excellent choice!" Lulu clasped her hands.
Jax's stomach clenched. How could Lulu be excited about the prospect of causing more damage to an already broken system?
Scientists…
"There are probably no more individual entities in the ship network," Lulu carried on. "So, you do just as you would do with any other harmful code."
"Identify suspicious elements and sandbox them?" SingMa asked.
"Indeed. I suspect that the text has something to do with it," Lulu added. "The fragments of code with messages attached are either the key elements or they're attached to key elements. Or the piece with the messages initiates the key element… Not really sure what happens, but the message may be relevant."
"Okay, we'll look for them."
The door to the department opened and stout figure of Dr. Harris appeared in the doorway.
"Ms. Zhou?' the doctor asked. "I heard you've got an urgent patient for me."
Lulu pivoted on her heels and grabbed the wheelchair with Rutger still unconscious.
"Yes, he's here," Lulu said, pushing the chair. "I suspect he has the same issue with his implants as the scientists who arrived from Vindolanda. He was on the same urgent transport from Earth, but… he has been recently found in one of the shuttles from Vindolanda. So, we can't be sure of the actual source, but I'd use the same treatment you're giving the scientists."
Jax tipped her head in admiration of Lulu's smooth cover story. She'd used a nice combination of various pieces of truth.
"Thank you, I will be careful. And you, are you okay?" Dr. Harris asked.
"I am well, and…" Lulu said and paused.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"I'd like to use the hospital system in a safe, closed-circuit to further my research and help fix the current network issues."
Dr. Harris clasped his hands together.
"That, Ms. Zhou is impossible. All the terminals in the hospital are down. I've heard it's happened in the whole of Segedunum. A few minutes ago, we invoked a Justitium."
"Justitium?" Lulu asked.
"State of Emergency," the doctor explained, his face pale and serious. "It's active throughout the whole Republic."
Lulu wobbled. Jax jumped forward, thinking the woman might collapse, but Lulu managed to stabilize herself.
"What-what's happening with your patients?'
"They are all safe. Yes, your son is safe too. Everything is running on our back-up power supply and working on an autopilot. We're unable to do anything but monitor the situation. We really need your help to get the network fixed."
Lulu pressed her hand to her chest.
"I shall do my best," she replied.
"Okay, we'd better stop wasting time," Jax said. "Give me my device and we're off to the ship."
"Your device?"" Lulu turned and stared at Jax.
"Yeah, the one you stole from me and promised a dozen times to return. We need it to get the job done."
"Oh, no. You don't need it. You've got the ship's computer as the interface. I, on the
other hand, can't work without it."
22
Jax
A giant, cold hand compressed Jax's heart.
This frigging game was not over…
"That is my property, and I demand you return it," Jax said. "It's my right. If you don't comply, I'll report you to the local police."
"Yeah, right." Lulu gave a sharp laugh. "Please go, by all means. They're likely sitting all together in their office, terrified of the dark and cold outside. And before you ask, no I can't use anything else. I just told you it's not possible," Lulu carried on. Her face was now covered in red blotches, her eyes bulging. "Can't you see there is no other way to save the Segedunum Station? I know you care about your little… device. And maybe your friend in the hospital…"
And my unborn baby…
"…but that's only you," Lulu carried on, her voice clam and quiet but as dark and cold as space outside the Belt. "You, a single person versus about five thousand of the station's inhabitants and potentially more. Because this thing can easily spread from Segedunum network via the PSS Network into the Belt and then to Earth. But it's not just the PSSNet being down. You might not know, but most modern systems depend upon the communications network. If we don't figure out how to stop the virus in its tracks, it'll shut down all Net-dependent communication, our power networks, and supply chains. It'll eat us alive. Can't you forget about your individual rights for one day and stop being such a selfish, fucking American?"
"Whoa… lady…" Jax snapped back. "Now, you're being racist."
"I am being a decent human being, who is using her expertise to save humankind," Lulu retorted. "Even if it means simply stopping a group of very smart people from dying. If we don't fix this, humanity is doomed. The last hundred and twenty years have been shit. And yes, I can say that here because no one is spying on me and my fucking implants are offline. Now I can say quite freely that I don't like some of the things that have happened in my country. I am terrified by some of the systems, but I do believe that sometimes the good of the many is more important than an individual's rights and freedoms. And even if you disagree with me, so be it. I'm seizing your device and you can just get lost," Lulu said, turned on her heels and marched away.
