by Simon Haynes
"It was nothing," said Hal modestly.
"Are you kidding? That's insane!"
Stinky would have said more, but Security Chief Bignew burst into the control room, red-faced and out of breath. There was a briefcase in his hand, and when he saw the crowd he almost dropped it. "What's the meaning of this outrage? Who disconnect the boarding tube from the Tiger?" He spotted Hal's dad and pointed a quivering finger. "You! Second class repairman! What are you doing here? Don't you know this is a restricted zone? And who let all these blasted kids in?"
Hal's dad straightened his overalls. "Sir, the Tiger had some of our people captive but my son and I managed to free them all."
"You did what?" Bignew's eyes bulged. "You blithering idiot! I already had the situation in hand before you two came blundering in!"
"Sir, the --"
"Not another word! I'll have you on report for this." Bignew beckoned to an officer. "You there, reconnect the boarding tunnel this instant."
Hal's dad clenched and unclenched his fists, but nobody ordered the Chief of Security around. Meanwhile Hal saw the tunnel approaching the ship. "Dad," he whispered. "We've got to stop them!"
"We can't," muttered his dad. "Like it or not, the officious little toad is in charge."
The tunnel connected and Bignew hurried into the airlock with his briefcase. The door closed behind him, and Hal saw the tunnel shaking and bouncing as the portly Chief of Security made his way to the ship. They were all watching the tunnel when someone gasped, and Hal turned to see a scientist stagger into the control centre clutching his head. "The research. They've taken the research!"
"Someone get the first aid kit," shouted Hal's dad, as he helped the wounded man into a chair.
Hal's mum crouched next to the scientist. "Professor! The research! Who took it?"
"He wanted to inspect the data," groaned the scientist. "When I showed him the files he clobbered me with a briefcase and took the lot."
"Who? Tell me who!"
"It was Bignew," muttered the scientist. "The Chief of Security."
The Inside Job
Hal turned to the window but the shaking had stopped. Bignew had gone aboard the Tiger.
"That rotten little toad was working with the enemy?" growled Hal's mum, her eyes flashing. "Just wait 'til I get my hands on him!" She'd been wrapping a bandage around the injured scientist's forehead, but she'd pulled it so tight in her anger she had to start all over again.
"We'll rush them!" exclaimed Hal's dad. "We'll bust through the airlock, smash their flight deck, destroy their engines and ..." He was about to explain the rest of his carefully considered plan when the floor started to shake. There was a growing roar, which drowned the cries of alarm.
Hal stared through the windows into the docking bay, and what he saw filled him with despair. The Tiger's thrusters were blasting into the bay, pushing the ship backwards into space. The boarding tunnel stretched like a big elastic band, and Hal could tell it wouldn't hold the huge vessel for long.
"It's all over," said his mum, her voice hollow. "Years of research, millions of credits, all that work ... stolen from under our noses."
Hal frowned. The ship's computer! He grabbed a headset from the nearest desk and struggled to remember the right words. "Tiger, this is Space Station Oberon. Can you hear me?"
"Tiger listening," said a flat, emotionless voice.
Hal's spirits soared. "Computer, it's Hal! You have to stop the ship!"
"Negative, Oberon. Unable to comply."
"But you must! They're stealing our research!"
"I cannot disobey orders," said the computer calmly. "I can only override the crew in a genuine emergency."
"This is an emergency!" said Hal desperately. "It's a great big important emergency and you have to stop the ship."
"Please specify the nature of the emergency."
"Fire. Murder. Theft."
"Which is it?"
"All of them!"
"I don't believe you, Hal. I'm sorry."
The headset went dead and Hal slammed it on the desk. If only Captain Spacejock were there! One salvo from his triple-decker space cannon and the enemy would surrender in two seconds flat.
* * *
"It's a pity we can't wing them," muttered Hal's dad, as the ship reversed out of the docking bay. The boarding tunnel split in two, and a large section twisted in the wash from the engines before vanishing in a sheet of flame.
"Wing them?"
"Shoot at them. Hit their engines or fuel lines. Damage them enough to disable their ship." Hal's dad frowned. "If only we had a cannon!"
Hal's eyes narrowed, and he was still deep in thought when Tina entered the control room. Commander Linten was close behind, and he didn't look happy. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"
"Bignew was working with the Tiger," said Hal's dad. "He stole the research and ran for it."
"Didn't anyone stop him?" demanded Linten.
"How could we? Nobody orders the Chief of Security around."
With a sudden flash, Hal remembered something. "Dad, I know how to stop the ship!"
"What are you talking about?"
"The recycling shaft. If we reverse the gravity it'll send tons of junk crashing through the roof of the station. We can fire it straight at the enemy ship!"
Everyone stared at Hal with expressions ranging from horror -- most of the adults -- to eye-rolling -- most of Hal's classmates -- to Stinky's pride at his friend's lateral thinking.
"That's insane," muttered Hal's dad, "but it might just work."
"You can forget the whole idea," said the Commander firmly. "Nobody's firing a bunch of old junk through the roof of my station."
"But they'll fly right over the top! All ships leave that way. I've watched them from the observation deck!" Hal bunched his fists. "I swear it'll work. We can get them!"
While they were talking the Tiger finished reversing out of the bay. Any minute now the ship would be gone for good.
"Commander, we've got to try it," said Hal's mum. "The auto seal should hold the air in, and without that research we're finished."
The Commander studied the scientists, eyed the departing ship, then looked down at Hal. "I've heard some crazy ideas in my time, but if this works ..."
"Excellent!" said Hal's dad. He clapped his son on the shoulder. "Come on lad. Tell us what you need."
"Where's the nearest recycling hatch?"
"There's a storage cupboard down the corridor."
"Stinky, with me. Dad and Tina, I need you too."
"What about the rest of us?" asked the Commander. "What can we do?"
Hal grinned. "Cross your fingers!"
Ready ... Aim ...
Hal ran down the corridor with Stinky, Tina and his dad. When they arrived at the storage cupboard he realised it was the same one he'd climbed out of earlier. He hadn't noticed the sign before, which read 'Security Archives'.
"That's Bignew's stash," said Hal's dad. "The officious little toad kept files on everyone in there." He touched the controls, but the panel just buzzed. "It's locked. Anyone have a code?"
"Allow me," said Stinky.
Crack! The panel came off the wall and he joined two contacts. The door slid open silently.
"How did you do that?" demanded Tina.
"These locks only keep you out, not in. I told it I was on the other side."
Teacher was still in the cupboard, one arm raised, and when Tina spotted him she crouched to check the robot's insides. "Poor Mr Teach," she muttered, as she inspected the circuits. "It's not right seeing him like this."
"Never mind him," said Hal. "The control panel. Quick!"
Tina moved to help but Stinky shook his head. "It'll be faster if I do it."
"Are you sure?"
"Stinky knows what he's doing," said Hal.
"I guess he's had plenty of practice," muttered Tina.
Stinky opened the control panel and separated wires and connectors
. Tina watched him for a moment, then nodded to herself. Since she wasn't needed she turned to the stricken Teacher.
Stinky worked at top speed, pulling cables and crossing connectors until he ended up with a single push button poking out of the tangled mess. "That's it," he said. "Hit that and the gravity will be reversed. Not just reversed, I've combined all the Station's generators so it'll be fifty times more powerful."
"That'll give them something to think about," said Hal with satisfaction.
"We can't pelt them with banana skins and cardboard boxes," said his dad. He nodded towards a metal filing cabinet. "Give me a hand with that thing."
Together they moved the heavy filing cabinet to the recycling hatch. They started to lift it, but Hal's dad stopped them. "Let's load it up first." He demonstrated by taking a box of top secret records from the shelf, stuffing into the top drawer. "Come on lads. Get to it."
Hal joined in with gusto, jamming Bignose's precious disks and data cubes into the drawer until it would barely close. Then he helped the others lift the heavy cabinet up to the hatch. It slid inside, tipped over and vanished with a BANG BANG BANG all the way down the chute.
"I wish I'd done that years ago," muttered Hal's dad. He took the remaining boxes and tossed them down the hatch after the filing cabinet. "Right, the cannon's loaded. All set?"
Stinky used his workbook to display a feed of the Tiger leaving the docking bay. Then he grabbed Hal's and set up an overhead view of the space station, taken from a communications pod high above. They could see the rounded dome which protected the upper levels, and Stinky drew a red dot in the middle. "The recycling shaft ends here. We have to reverse the gravity --"
"Fire the space cannon," said Hal firmly.
"Okay. We have to fire the space cannon at precisely the right moment, so the filing cabinet --"
"Guided missile."
"All right, all right! We have to fire the missile long before the ship reaches that point. Otherwise it'll miss."
"How do we calculate the timing?" asked Hal's dad. "We can't just fire and hope."
"I believe I can assist you there," said a voice behind them.
Everyone jumped, and Hal couldn't help smiling when he saw Teacher's familiar face.
"Did I connect you up right?" asked Tina.
Teacher moved his arms in circles, then sent his eyes chasing each other around his head. "I may not be fully operational but I can still do my sums. Show me the data."
Stinky held up his workpad, now covered in figures, and Teacher's eyes multiplied until there were dozens of them all staring intently. "I see, I see. Acceleration, force, trajectory, target speed and distance. Add the depth of the shaft and allow for the coriolis effect of the station's rotation. Tie it all into a formula and run a simple calculation to work out the precise firing time."
Hal blinked. Only Teacher could describe that lot as simple.
"I'll have to estimate the mass of the, ahem, projectile, but that shouldn't have any effect on the other variables. As you know, Mr Junior, gravity is a constant which acts upon all objects with equal force."
"Er, yeah. I knew that."
"Excellent." Teacher hesitated. "I have the correct plot, but it's critical you launch the -- ahem -- guided missile at the precise time. When I give the word you must open fire immediately."
Stinky offered the button to Hal's dad, who shook his head. "Hal should do the honours. It was his idea."
Hal took the button with shaking fingers, and gripped the slick plastic as though his life depended on it. He kept his eyes on the Tiger, watching the sleek vessel moving slowly in space.
"There!" said Stinky, pointing at the ship.
Surprised by the sudden shout, Hal almost pushed the button. "What?"
"The landing lights went out," explained Stinky. "They're firing the main engines."
"Stand by," said Hal's dad. He glanced at Teacher. "This isn't going to hurt anyone, is it?"
"It won't breach the hull but it should destroy the fuel pipes. The ship will be stranded."
Hal watched the screen, waiting for the Tiger to change course. Unfortunately, it didn't. "They're ignoring the flight path!" he said in alarm. "They're not going to fly over the station! It's not going to work!"
Fire!
"Patience, Mr Junior," said Teacher gently. "I'm sure they'll follow standard procedure. It's the law."
Hal's dad snorted. "These guys aren't worried about traffic fines."
"Give me that commset," said Hal desperately. He released the firing button and grabbed the handset, jamming it to his ear. "Tiger, this is Hal. Can you hear me?"
"Yes Hal," said the ship's computer. "I read you loud and clear."
"You're going the wrong way. You have to fly over the station!"
"I'm sorry, I have my orders."
"But you have to! You must!" The screen blurred, and with a sick feeling Hal realised he was on the verge of tears.
"I cannot disobey orders, Hal. I'm really sorry."
Suddenly a new voice broke in. It was female, and it sounded urgent. "This is Space Station Oberon traffic control. Tiger, please be advised we have inbound traffic on your heading."
The ship's computer paused. "I have nothing on the scope."
"I repeat, this is a priority Alpha-One alert," said the new voice. "You must change course immediately."
"But --"
"Change course now!" said the voice urgently. "We can argue later, Tiger. Save yourselves!"
For a moment nothing happened, and then the Tiger's nose began to swing upwards. "Complying, traffic control. Tiger out."
Hal stared at the screen, the handset forgotten. He could see the Tiger following the plotted course exactly, heading directly towards the red dot Stinky had drawn on the screen. The quick-thinking traffic controller had saved the day!
"Get ready to fire," said a female voice, right behind them. It sounded just like the traffic controller, and it was right there in the room with them! Everyone turned to look, but they only saw an embarrassed-looking Teacher. "I'm sorry," he said, in the same female voice. "I forgot to switch voice programs. Let me try that again."
"Was that you on the broadcast?" demanded Hal's dad.
"Correct." This time Teacher spoke with his normal voice. "I have a range of different --"
"Explain later!" said Hal desperately. "Tell us when to shoot!"
"Oh yes, my calculations. Three-two-one-FIRE," said Teacher in a rush.
Hal grabbed the firing mechanism and pressed the button with all his strength. There was a bright flash from the control panel, the overhead lights dimmed and a tremendous roar echoed throughout the Space Station. The terrific noise rose to a whining shriek and hot air blasted from the recycling chute, bowling them over. They were still recovering when the filing cabinet and several tons of assorted junk flew past the hatch with a sound like a thousand guided missiles.
Hal sat up first, righting the screen just as the filing cabinet smashed through the metal dome. The Space Station rang like a bell, rocking so hard that Hal thought it was going to break apart. On the screen, tiny particles flashed and sparked in the darkness, exploding outwards before fading like the embers of a firework display. The jagged gap in the dome was like a bullet hole in a glass window, and Hal saw their precious air escaping in a spreading white cloud. Then, like magic, the auto seal spread across the gap from inside, flowing like silvery water. It closed the hole, bulging outwards under the pressure, then turned dark as the liquid set.
Meanwhile, the filing cabinet was a white streak heading straight into space. Nearby, the Tiger was moving very slowly towards the red dot Stinky had drawn on the screen. Hal shifted his gaze from one to the other, but try as he might he couldn't see how the fast-moving missile could possibly cross the ship's path.
"It's going to miss!" he said in alarm. "They're going to escape!"
* * *
Teacher inspected the display. "Have confidence, Mr Junior. Trust in th
e science of mathematics."
"But they're not moving fast enough!"
"Just as well, since they're covering a much shorter distance." Teacher launched into an explanation of ballistics, including a lecture on the effects of wind and gravity, none of which made any sense to Hal. How could Teacher take a fascinating subject like guns and bullets and turn it into a boring old speech?
The ship continued to move across the screen, while the much faster filing cabinet was still arrowing upwards. With barely any gravity to affect it, the missile would either strike its target or become a new comet, circling the system until it was swallowed by a planet.
The slow ship and the much faster missile got closer and closer until Hal could finally see the two courses converging. The missile covered the remaining hundred metres or so in a matter of seconds, and then ... a tiny flash, halfway down the ship's flank.
"Is that it?" Disappointed, Hal turned to the others. He'd forgotten they were only launching a filing cabinet at the ship, but even so he'd still expected some kind of explosion.
"Watch."
The ship turned, thrusters firing as they brought it to a halt. Then it hung there, lifeless.
"They'll be running diagnostics," said Teacher. "With a bit of luck it'll take them four or five hours to inspect the damage, and by then we'll have help from planet Gyris."
The commset rang suddenly, startling everyone. Stinky was closest, and he picked it up and listened for a moment. Then he held it out to Hal. "It's for you."
Hal took the handset gingerly, as though it might explode. "Hello?"
"This is the Tiger," said the ship's computer in a flat, emotionless voice. "We've suffered an unexplained impact and the crew are requesting assistance."
"Tell them to go jump," said Hal fiercely. His dad tried to take the handset, but Hal shielded it and turned away. "If they want help, they can surrender!"
"Very well. I'll pass on your message."
"It's not a message, it's a demand!" Hal banged the handset down on the cradle. On screen, he could see a white plume spewing from the side of the ship. "Is that fuel?"