Expert Assistance

by Robert Collins

  Jake reached into his shirt pocket. He took out a slender tube about half the size of a perscomp stencil. He removed the paper covering, tossing the paper to the floor. He stuck the device onto the second cable. He held his right forefinger against one end until the bomb beeped. Once it did he stepped back to the doorway.

  “Wanna see?” he called to the outside. A moment later Evvie stuck her head through the doorway. A minute later the tiny bomb hissed, then burst into white smoke. When the smoke cleared the cable was cleanly split in two with a gap where the bomb had been.

  “That was it?” she asked.

  “It’s not the size of the bomb that counts,” he replied.

  “Please, don’t go on like that. I don’t want to hear those jokes coming out of your mouth. It’s creepy.”

  “It isn’t creepy that a teenage pop star knows those jokes?” Jake tapped his bracelet and brought it close to his mouth. “The cable has been cut, Odin.”

  “Stand by,” the computer responded. “Mission accomplished, Jake. The guardbots are immobile. I will now crash the computers in the security room. Done.”

  “Fine. Open a channel to the Rosens.”

  “Open.”

  “Beep them, loudly.”

  “Done.”

  “Good. Now open the channel to Del, and beep him.”

  “Done.”

  “Good. Keep me informed, and keep those channels open.” Jake looked at Evvie. “Let’s head for the dome and see if our allies get their jobs done.”

  ***

  Lunch was winding down when the signal came. This was good, Clarissa mused, because getting people up while they were eating would have been hard. It was also good because of the fact that, since the time allotted for lunch had been cut back, everyone was now being fed sandwiches. They were much easier to carry out if someone wasn’t quite finished.

  It was Daniel’s turn to carry their comm unit on that particular day. When the beep sounded he paused in his meal to take out the unit, just to be certain. Instantly satisfied, he looked at Clarissa. She nodded firmly. The pair made eye contact with a handful of others close by.

  “What’s going here?”

  They turned. One of the guards had come up to them. He stood a few steps away from Daniel. His hands were on his hips.

  Daniel glanced at Clarissa. She shrugged and nodded.

  “This!” he replied loudly.

  Daniel kicked the guard in the shins. As the guard bent down in pain, Daniel rose up quickly. He grabbed the guard by the sleeve of his uniform and pushed his face into the table. Clarissa helpfully lifted Daniel’s food tray out of the way of the guard’s head.

  His opponent now dazed, Daniel reached down and snatched the guard’s sidearm out of its belt holster. Brandishing it before the other workers, he shouted, “This is it! Disarm the guards!”

  “But don’t touch the bots!” Clarissa added hastily.

  “Right!”

  The active members of the ALG leapt up from their places and ran towards the other three remaining guards. Everyone else simply stood up to watch the unfolding scene.

  The three guards were standing by the door. They stood frozen for several seconds, clearly trying to process the scene and figure out what to do. One of them glanced at the guardbots stationed around the room. The bots were as still as furniture, and obviously about as helpful. The trio drew their weapons, but were in the hands of the rebelling workers before they even had a chance to point them.

  “What do we do with them?” someone called back to the Rosens.

  “Uh, take their belts off, and use them to tie them up,” Daniel answered. He nodded to a knot of workers close by. They began to do the same to the guard he had immobilized.

  Once bound the three guards were brought to where the other was. “What do we do with these guys?” another worker asked.

  Clarissa pointed to three ALG members standing across from her. “You keep watch on them.” She gave one of them the gun Daniel had liberated. “Take this.”

  “Do we stay here?” someone else asked.

  Daniel and Clarissa glanced at each other and shrugged. “Hold on,” he said. He tapped the sole keypad on the comm unit. “Jake, are you there?”

  “Yes,” cracked his voice from the unit. “What is it?”

  “We’ve captured the guards here. What do we do now?”

  “Sit tight for a moment.”

  “Okay, standing by.” Daniel turned to call out to the crowd. “We have a few moments before we move on,” he announced, “so if you’re not finished eating, hurry up and finish. We have a lot to do before we can say we’re free.”

  ***

  Meanwhile, Del Thorne assembled his allies in the executive meeting room. It was a much smaller group than the Rosens’. In fact, it was smaller than Thorne had hoped. There was himself, Tina, two senior foremen, and four security guards. In his mind there were only two positives: those not willing to take sides had pledged to stay in their offices or return to their quarters and wait; and that his group had the element of surprise. Thorne was relieved a bit more when, while waiting for Jake’s signal, he learned that three of the four guards were members of the ALG and had been so for a few weeks.

  Finally the comm unit beeped. Thorne quickly acknowledged the signal and turned to the others. “Let’s move.” With him in the lead, they filed out of the room and into the corridor.

  “Anyone around?” he asked, glancing in both directions.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” the guard at the rear said.

  “Okay. Follow me.”

  Thorne led the band of plotters down the corridor to the security control room. No one seemed to notice them as they walked quickly towards their goal. Every door was closed and no guards were on duty. Good, Thorne thought, the others are keeping their word.

  Once at the doorway to security control, Thorne motioned to the guards. All four came forward. He pointed to one, and to one of the foremen, and gestured to them to keep watch. They nodded in agreement and took up stations on either side of the door. Thorne allowed the other three guards to take up places in front of the doorway. He shifted to one side and put his thumb against the access keypad.

  “Uh, yeah?” a voice sounded over the doorway intercom.

  “It’s Thorne. I’m here to help.”

  “Thanks! Hold on.”

  The door slid open. The trio of guards dashed in, weapons leveled at the two inside sitting at the main console. Thorne, Tina, the other guard, and the foremen followed fast on their heels. Tina and the foremen quickly disarmed the two stunned guards. The door closed quietly behind them.

  Thorne took the comm unit out of his jacket pocket and tapped it. “Jake, this is Del. We’ve taken security.”

  “Great. Stand by. Odin, open the connection to the Rosens.”

  “Done.”

  “Daniel, this is Jake. Del Thorne’s people have taken over security. Are your people ready to move?”

  “Yeah. Where to?”

  “Odin, open a connection to security control.”

  “Open.”

  Thorne and the others glanced around. The screens, which had been black and blank, suddenly came to life. “Jake,” Thorne said, “we’re back on. Do you want us to look for something?”

  “Yeah,” he replied. “Check and see where the other guards are.”

  “Sure.” He nodded to Tina. “Get them out of the way.” She and the foremen stood the guards up and pushed them to one side of the room.

  Thorne sat down in one of the console seats. He tapped on a few keypads, then stared at the screen. It showed red dots scattered on every level. There were no more than four on any one. Thorne reported this to Jake.

  “Okay. Send a shutdown signal to the guardbots.”

  “One second. Done.”

  “Okay, now take some people and join the Rosens. Go level by level and arrest all the guards. Try to take them in without violence if you can.”

  “What about Maxis?” Dani
el asked.

  “Those guards are the bigger problem right now,” Thorne said. “Hang on a bit longer, Daniel. We’ll be down as fast as we can. Jake, how long until you arrive here?”

  “About twenty minutes or so.”

  “Good. Is that all?”

  “Yep. Call if you have any problems. Out.”

  Thorne rose from his seat and turned to Tina. “I want you to stay here and keep watch over everything.”

  “You got it, Del.”

  He turned to one of the guards in the ALG. “You stay with her. Tina, secure the door when we leave. Erase all the other entry thumbprints except yours and mine.” He handed her his comm unit. “Use this if you have something to say. It’s scrambled, so don’t worry about being overheard.”

  “Sure. Good luck.”

  He smiled. “Thanks.” He glanced at the others. “All right, let’s get going.” He led them to the door. After it opened, he looked down the corridor in both directions. Satisfied that no one was around or watching, he motioned the rest to follow him to the access elevator.

  ***

  The hovercar’s sensors had just picked up the dome when Jake’s comm bracelet beeped. He slowed the vehicle down before tapping the bracelet. “Jake, here.”

  “Uh, this is Tina in security control.”

  “Problem?”

  “Yeah. The cameras outside just picked up Maxis, two of the execs, and about a half-dozen guards running by here.”

  Thorne’s voice came onto the line. “Tina, where were the going?”

  “Uh, looks like reception, Del.”

  “Tina, this is Jake. Can you tell if Maxis is trying to contact anyone?”

  “No. I mean, no, he isn’t.”

  “How’d he find out?” Thorne asked.

  “Guard called before you arrested him,” Jake replied, “or random security check, or he glanced at a corridor camera. Don’t worry about it for now. Just finish up rounding up the other guards. We’re six or seven minutes away.”

  ***

  The hovercar Jake and Evvie had appropriated pulled into the dome garage at right about the time Jake had estimated. They stepped out of the vehicle, leaving the two bound technicians inside.

  Jake took a moment to glance around. The area was much as he remembered from the plans Odin had obtained. Sitting around the boarding platform were three hover-buses; a second hovercar was parked behind them; and next to it was a tracked vehicle used for road maintenance. There were no other obvious entrances except for the boarding platform.

  As he glanced around Jake caught sight of Evvie. She had picked up one of the large blasters from inside the hovercar. She held it across her chest as she imitated the stance of a soldier on guard duty. The all-business weapon clashed severely with sporty green-cammo t-shirt, faux jungle-cammo slacks, and name-brand red-brown hiking boots. Jake shook his head after staring for a moment.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” He turned away from her and tapped his bracelet. “Daniel? You there?”

  “Uh, where?” came the reply.

  “On this channel. Obviously, you are. Now, where are your people?”

  “Most of them are in the cafeteria, watching the guards. Me, Mister Thorne, and about twenty others are on the top level. We’re outside security control, and not far from the reception room. We’re ready to move, Jake.”

  “Look, don’t try to burst in. We’ve managed to avoid bloodshed so far.”

  “This is a revolution, Jake.”

  “Violent revolutions usually don’t turn out well in the end. Trust me on that one. Uh, Tina, is it?”

  “I’m here.”

  “What’s the situation in the room with Maxis and his cronies?”

  “Dunno. He had a guard shoot out all the room cameras.”

  “Did you see anything before that?”

  “I think some of the guards were moving furniture around.”

  “Probably building a barricade between them and the door. Can you hear anything going on inside?”

  “No. The cameras picked up audio as well as video.”

  “How about the intercom, or the PA system?”

  “I suppose that works.”

  “Do you want us to say something to him?” Thorne asked, apparently using Daniel’s comm unit.

  “Maybe. You or Daniel get some more people up there, maybe ten or twelve. Arm them if you can.”

  “I thought you wanted us to avoid violence.”

  “I do. Those numbers ought to give you a three-to-one superiority, which should persuade them not to put up a fight. While you do that hang tight. I’ll get right back to you. Odin, discrete channel.”

  “Two-way open, Jake,” the computer replied.

  “Odin, I would like to avoid storming the room if possible. Are there any tricks we can pull?”

  “Teleporting in something to dispense sleeping gas?”

  “Anything that teleports in is likely to get shot at before it or they do anything.” A thought popped into Jake’s head. “Odin, does it seem odd to you that Maxis would choose to make a stand in the reception room?”

  “No. There is furniture for a barricade and plenty of space to fight in. It seems quite logical.”

  “Except for one thing. Why didn’t he try to get his loyalists to retake security control before going into the reception room? Seems like he could do more to maintain his hold by doing that, rather than by organizing some last stand.”

  “Interesting point, Jake, but where are you going?”

  “There must be something in that room that Maxis wants, or needs, that gives him some reason to go there instead of to security. Odin, open a direct line to Tina, and get your encryption breaking routines warmed up.”

  “Done.”

  “Tina, this is Jake.”

  “Yes, Jake?”

  “I want you to open a path on your console to my ship computer, Odin. I’m going to have him try to gain access to the encrypted files.”

  “Uh, I think I can do that myself.”

  “You have a password?”

  “Yeah. Hold on. Okay, I’m in. What do you want?”

  “Anything on the reception room. Plans, schematics, control routes, terminals, anything that doesn’t belong in a file on that room.”

  “Okay. Found this: access stairway light. Wait. There’s no access stairwell there.”

  “Odin, scan.”

  “There is indeed an access stairwell next to the room. And Jake, it leads down to the garage.”

  “Thank you, Odin.” So, Maxis, or his father, or more likely his grandfather, was smart enough to think up an easy out, Jake thought. One little bit of cleverness, and it’s something we can use against him. Ah, real, honest irony. Sometimes these jobs do have their perks.

  “Okay, Odin, where’s the door down here?”

  “Towards the rear of the garage area. It might be concealed.”

  “We’ll look. Scan the room, too. Tell me if anyone is moving towards the doorway up there.”

  “Done.”

  Jake nodded to Evvie towards the back of the garage. They jogged across the area to the corner. They searched both walls for the outline of a door. Evvie was the one who found it. Neither she nor Jake could, however, find a secret door keypad to open it.

  “We’ve found the door, but nothing to open it,” he said to Odin. “Any suggestions?”

  “The only keypad controlling the door is on the other side of the wall.”

  “Damn.” Jake’s gaze fell to the blaster Evvie held. “What would firing a blast rifle into the control circuit do?”

  “That might open it.”

  “We’ll give it a shot, so to speak.”

  “You want me to...?” Evvie asked.

  “No. Here.” He gave her his stun pistol and took the blast rifle from her. He waited for her to take a few steps away.

  “Ready, Odin. My left or my right?”

  “Your right. Chest level or lower.”

  �
�Got it.”

  Jake pumped the trigger of the rifle, firing off burst after burst. The door didn’t open, but after a half-dozen shots there was a hole in the wall. Through it Jake could seen the control relays connecting the door to the keypad on the other side. He narrowed the beam and fired. The relay sparked, and the door slid open. Jake handed the rifle back to Evvie in exchange for his pistol, and the two dashed through the doorway. Stretching above them was a stark stairway leading up to the top level.

  “Odin, we’re through. What’s the situation in reception?”

  “It appears one person has separated from the main line and is moving very slowly towards the access exit.”

  “Good. Put Tina back on.”

  “Here, Jake,” she said.

  “Tina, I want you to get Del in there. Get him on the intercom and talk to the people in the room. Tell them that further resistance is useless, they’re outnumbered, Maxis has lost, better to avoid violence, blah, blah, blah. Tell Daniel to have his group stationed on either side of the room’s doorway. They’re to go in as soon as you open the door.”

  “Okay. When do I open the door?”

  “When I say, ‘Tina, now.’ We’re going up the stairs now. Stand by.” Jake turned to Evvie. “Let’s go.”

  “Uh, I have a question.”

  “What?”

  “Will this be very dramatic?”

  He rolled his eyes and shook his head. He nodded at the stairs, and led her up. At about the halfway point Evvie paused. She let out a few loud breaths.

  “This isn’t any harder than one of your routines,” Jake said.

  “Yeah, but I’m out of practice. I haven’t had time to work out since the tour ended.”

  “Oh, yeah, you’ve been so busy.”

  “I have.” She took a few more deep breaths. “Jake, can I ask you another question?”

  “What now?”

  “How do I look?”

  “Why? Are you feeling sick?”

  “No, I mean how do I look, with this gun, and these clothes.”

  “Like a crazed baby-sitter.”

  “You think this will hurt my image? I’d hate to think that I’m endorsing violence.”

  “Shut up, and get moving!” He started up the stairs.

  “It’s a legitimate question,” she insisted, following him. “I mean, I know sometimes I dress provocatively, and maybe that’s not a good image. I was raised to believe that it’s far worse to endorse violence.”

  Jake swiftly turned around. “Noble sentiments, Evvie, but not now.”