by Gini Koch
“I realize that there are people who follow a more logical thought pattern. However, I find it difficult to believe that Drax didn’t account for how organic minds work.”
“He did. However, your mind, in particular, has affected Mother.”
Received an expectant look. Tried to figure out what Algar wanted me to figure out. “Because I’m the main point of Communications or whatever?”
“Yes.” The expectant look was still fully in place.
“Um . . . but Tim assigned our positions, out of necessity.”
“He did.” Algar was now giving me the “duh” look.
“Oh. You or ACE suggested those stations to him?”
“In a sense.”
“So why did Mother not allow us to change roles? The real reason.”
“It’s going to matter very soon that the two people who are the most independent in terms of their thinking and actions be in charge, and that the person who’s led military actions without panic for years be in charge of Weapons. She’s seen how the three of you think and has, wisely, chosen to keep you in the positions you all initially chose.”
“So, Tim as Commander, me as Communications, and Jeff as Weapons is sticking. I speak for all of us when I say, with as much sarcasm as possible, that we’re all thrilled. What about Tito, Matt, and Chip?”
“The team is working well. Doctor Hernandez is the most capable person on board. He’s also the one who remains calm in every situation, including the life-and-death ones. Keep him with you. Matt and Chip have enough skill to fly the ship without any help. It would be easier for them if they were working with the rest of their regular team, but they’ll manage and pick up any slack the rest of you might inadvertently create.”
“Um, go team? This still doesn’t answer why you now think it’s safe to come out of hiding. My affecting Mother did what, exactly?”
“It saved everyone.”
“I’d feel all special and tingly, but before I let myself go wild, I’d like an explanation.”
“You moved Mother from the mindset of doing whatever she wanted and felt was best into becoming a team player.”
“How Corporate America of me. Flat-out you’re going to have to explain what you mean by this.”
“If I must.”
“It’s already been a hell of a long day, so, yes, you must.”
“Only you and Tim would have talked about HAL. Therefore, only you and Tim would have created the need for Mother to look that movie up and do a comparison to herself.”
“James would have, Chuckie, too. Raj, Amy, lots of the others.”
Algar shook his head. “Years ago? Yes, James and Charles would have. But now, in the positions they’re in, they would not, not in this situation. None of the others would, either. Plus, you and Tim have a different way of talking to each other than you do with the others.”
“Heads of Airborne always know how to hang with the crazy?”
“Exactly. Mother now knows what she does not want to become.”
“Good to know. So, because Mother’s not going all HAL on us, you feel that it’s safe to share that all of you are still on the ship.”
“Yes. However, as I said earlier, my word has no sway with these men. They are protectors, first. They want to be in a position to protect.” He shot me a look I was pretty sure was supposed to be meaningful.
Heaved yet another sigh. “Fine. So I have to convince them that we need them out more than we need them hidden?”
“Yes. Beyond Mossy, who is already prepared to reveal himself.”
“Not in front of the kids and more easily distressed adults, I hope. We don’t want to start a panic, after all.”
Algar rolled his eyes. “No one’s actually panicked yet.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s just a matter of time, and it also depends how you define ‘panic,’ of course. Once again, I’ll verify all the definitions later.”
“Panic is rarely helpful.”
“Yes, I’m clear—panic never achieves anything other than increasing the total chaos of the situation.” Mom and Dad had drilled that into my head and, as I thought of it, Chuckie’s, Amy’s, Brian’s, and Sheila’s heads, too. So, when it all went sideways, I could count on the three of my high school friends on board to, presumably, keep their heads. Wondered what Sheila was doing for a moment. Probably not anything like what the rest of us were. Figured that the others would also feel envy for Sheila if I brought this up to them. Actively chose not to so bring up. That was me, taking one for the team as always.
“Sometimes, though,” Algar said pleasantly, “total chaos is what you want.”
This felt like a clue. “Is it?”
But if it was a clue, Algar wasn’t giving me anything else. “Time is of the essence.”
“People like to say that to me. However, you just stopped time so we could chat. Ergo, time’s in a holding pattern. Which I appreciate.”
“I’m sure you do. There is a reason for these men to be seen, a reason that will resonate with them. I wonder if you can convince them of what that happens to be.” Then he snapped his fingers and time moved on.
CHAPTER 25
“I CAN’T SPEAK FOR THE GENTLEMEN,” Algar said, as if our entire conversation hadn’t happened which, for the others, it hadn’t. “But I feel that our being with the others might be beneficial.”
“Maybe,” Buchanan said. “But if we go out there, we lose any element of surprise we might have.”
The others chimed in. Clearly it was just going to be Mossy coming with me and Tim unless I figured out what to say to convince them otherwise. Algar felt he’d given me the clues I’d need. However, I had nothing.
“We’re stuck in the middle of space,” Tim pointed out. “I don’t know what you all think you’re hiding from anymore. Mother appears to be on our side, particularly since the ship is damaged. We’re in trouble and the closest thing to us is the Eagle Nebula, and even that we can’t reach if we can’t go to warp. At least, not until we’re all ancient.”
Wanted to tell Tim I loved him, but that would probably not go over well in this room. Didn’t make eye contact with Algar, mostly because I assumed he’d look smug, because I was sure he’d caught that I’d figured out what to say. “We don’t want to, really. We want to get away. Fast.”
“Why?” Wruck asked.
“Because, as we’d told you before and Tim just mentioned again, we’re in the Superconsciousness Central Neighborhood and ACE is inside my daughter. And I have no idea what said superconsciousnesses are going to do if they catch ACE being far away from Earth.”
“We won’t allow them to do anything,” Buchanan growled.
“Yeah? How are you going to stop them hiding in a maintenance closet?”
“How will we stop them at all?” Tim asked. “I’d love to hear your plans.”
“Exactly,” Maurer said. “Will it matter where we are? They’re powerful.”
“Tell that to your mother and children, who happen to be on board with my daughter.”
Maurer looked shocked. “How did my children get on the ship?”
“Dude, when I last recapped for all of you guys, I said all the kids were here.”
“You didn’t list them by name,” Maurer said.
“A thousand apologies for my oversight.” Yeah, I had a sarcasm knob, too, and mine always went to eleven. “So, yes, your kids and your mom are here. Do you, perhaps, want to make them feel more secure and show yourself? That really goes for the rest of you, too. I think that everyone, from the President on down, will feel better if they know you’re with us.”
They still looked ready to argue. Tim rolled his eyes. “As the other half of the Maverick Duo, I just want to say that both of us think you should let the others know you’re here. If only to distract Mother from the fact that the hackers sn
uck on board, too.”
“Stryker and his gang are here?” Buchanan asked. The others looked more alert and thoughtful, too.
“Yes. And, miraculously, we’ve managed to keep their traps shut so they don’t share with Mother that they’re the most likely people to alter her programming.”
“Only just,” Tim added. “Those guys don’t really get what the term ‘stealth’ means.”
“True enough and, by looking at all of your expressions, I think we’re all forming the same plan. While Mossy saves the day with Drax and Mother, and you guys distract the hell out of her by merely showing up, Tim and I can get Hacker International on the reverse engineering, computer override, and fix this situation case right away.”
The ship shuddered. “That doesn’t feel good,” Tim said.
“Yeah. I just hope it’s not heralding arrivals.”
“Arrivals by whom?” Mossy asked.
“I had to send out distress calls. One of them I sent specifically to Sandy, who’s the only superconsciousness likely to want to help us. Maybe.”
“Let’s go,” Tim said. “Mossy, at least, can be helpful.”
“You take him and get him working with Drax.”
“So I get to explain how I knew we had a Turleen stowaway all by myself? No thanks.”
“You won’t have to,” Butler said, speaking for the first time since we’d gotten here. “I believe we all truly need to go with you.”
“Why so, John?” Siler asked.
“Because the ship is in distress, and therefore life support could be affected. If the ship thinks there are close to ten less people on board than there actually are, that could cause issues. Or, to put it another way, there are only two of us on board who can survive without life support, and that’s myself and Cameron. We need to admit that we’re here so that the ship is aware of it, and makes adjustments accordingly.”
“And that, gentlemen, is the ultimate winner, winner, chicken dinner. Because if someone like one of the kids can’t breathe because Mother didn’t accommodate for you guys, trust me when I say that Jeff won’t be the only one going Old Testament on your asses.”
“Far be it for us to try to protect anyone,” Buchanan muttered.
“I’d feel all bad for you but I don’t because I’m not joking about the whole superconsciousnesses thing, and I also kind of dread everyone’s reaction when we go, ‘Ta-da! Look who’s here!’ the moment we reach the others.”
The ship shuddered again. “I think we need Mossy activated, regardless of reactions,” Tim said, as he opened the door. To see someone standing there that it was safe to say none of us expected.
Though we should have. I should have, in particular.
“Mind telling me what’s going on?” Jeff asked, sarcasm knob already at eleven. “And why we have a room full of people who appear to be in hiding? And why you, Tim and Kitty, also appear to be hiding them?”
“Ah . . .” Tim said.
“Um . . .” I said.
“Give it a rest, Mister Executive Chief,” Buchanan said. “My team is in place to protect your wife and children. That means we do things you might not know about.”
“All the time,” Siler added.
“The gentlemen were protecting me,” Algar said. “I was most concerned when strange things began happening.”
Jeff rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Kitty, Drax needs help. What, exactly, is your plan?”
Shoved Mossy forward. “I plan to let our Turleen on Team Tough Guys save the day.”
Jeff grunted. “Fine. I’ll yell at everyone later. Right now, we have bigger problems than why and how all of you were hiding in a place where Mother couldn’t see you.”
My brain nudged. If one group of people could stow away in this fashion, what about others?
“How did you know Mother couldn’t see in here?” Tim asked.
Jeff sighed. “Mother shared with me that the two of you had disappeared. It wasn’t hard to track both of you based on your emotions. So, I knew that while I could feel you, Mother couldn’t ‘see’ you, meaning that this room is shielded from the AI in some way.”
“All of the maintenance closets are for some weird Vatusan reason. By the way, once we share that everyone’s here, I’d like those of you on Team Tough Guys who aren’t busy doing whatever to check each and every one of the other closets.”
Siler and Buchanan both jerked. But it was Wruck who spoke. “Because if one set of people can hide on board, why not many others?”
Jeff groaned. “It never ends. Let’s get moving.”
We rejoined the others. Amazingly enough, no one complained too much about our stowaways—probably because no one had felt that Mother was on our side until, possibly, right now.
While Jeff took over explaining what was going on to everyone, Mossy went to help Drax, and Tim and I went with him, because Hacker International had gone with Drax to Engineering with hopes of helping him and Mother out.
Mossy’s arrival was greeted with much joy. Drax literally could not have cared less that the Turleen had stowed away, because without him, we were, as Tim had mostly said, dead in the space water.
Sadly, Tim and I weren’t able to drag any of the hackers away, though, because Drax and Mother had them all doing tasks vital to getting her back to fully functional. It was nice to see Hacker International working feverishly on something that required most of them to stand up and move, though. Hoped Jeff would get a chance to see this—he’d enjoy seeing them sweat even more than I was.
Neither Tim as Commander nor I as Communications were needed right now. We left Engineering and went to a viewing area that wasn’t on the command deck—it was a bar. Well, more like a really fancy lounge. A lounge with a really great view—the “back” of this section of the ship was all window.
“Wow, did Drax watch like all of Star Trek while designing?”
“No,” Tim said with a laugh. “But apparently this kind of thing is common on larger space vessels. In order to ensure that crew on long flights have some form of entertainment that allows them to mingle and all that.”
“Seriously, for as fast as most of these ships seem to travel, acting like anyone’s going to have time to hang out seems silly.”
He shrugged. “We’re hanging out.”
“We’re stuck. It’s a different thing.”
Though we were stuck, we were also still moving, floating toward the nebula. Could tell this was not only because of how things worked in space and that old body in motion versus body at rest law, but because the nebula looked slightly bigger. But, based on how large our scientists knew the nebula to be, and how small it looked right now, knew that Tim was right, and if we managed to float to it, Charlie would be an old man by the time we got there.
“True. But while all the ships can move fast, it’s not always a good idea for them to do so. Per what Drax has told all of us and the other spacefaring races have confirmed, the strain of the faster warp jumps and such can be hard on the ships, especially over time. It’s done for war, for obvious reasons, but if you’re just on a peaceful cruise? You cruise. Including if you’re a Turleen.”
“Interesting. So, we’ve seen the panicked flights and the war flights, but never the casual ones?”
“Right. So, the ships are made for all contingencies, just in case. And, obviously, Vatusan ships have a lot of different forms, since they need fewer crew to man. The two-man ships? No bar.”
“Yeah, there was no lounge in the helicarrier.”
“Right, because it was built for war. This ship, though? She’s been built to do it all.” He sighed as he looked out at the blackness and the Eagle Nebula in the far distance. “Part of me is really glad Alicia’s on board. The other part is terrified that we’re all going to die out here, her included.”
Gave him a hug. “I know what you mean. But w
e’ll manage. We always do.”
Was about to say something more when the view changed. Instead of black and the nebula, the window clouded over, as if we’d sailed into thick fog.
Only, fog it definitely was not.
CHAPTER 26
THE FOG CAME THROUGH the window, thankfully not via breaking said window, but as if the window was insubstantial. Though I knew that it was the fog that was the insubstantial thing, in no small part because fog was pretty insubstantial to begin with and in much larger part because it wasn’t fog. Nice to know that my message had been received.
The fog formed, first into a swirling mass that sort of resembled a man, and then into a man in reality, so to speak.
The last time I’d seen Sandy the Superconsciousness, he’d been basically dressed in bullet hole-ridden flyers and posters with Jeff and the late Vincent Armstrong’s faces on them. Now he was dressed in what looked very much like an Armani suit. Nice to see that he’d chosen to adapt to our standards of dress.
Didn’t think about it, just gave him a hug once he was fully formed. “It’s great to see you. I hope.”
Sandy hugged me back. “I am here to assist. What are you doing here?”
“Um . . . God, it’s only been a few hours, max, and it’s already a long story.” Brought him up to speed, though a part of me figured he already knew what was going on. “So, we’re basically here against our will, but supposedly going to stop something terrible from happening.”
Sandy nodded. “Yes. However, there are always terrible things happening.”
“There are,” Tim agreed. “But the thing we’re talking about threatens to end the galaxy.”
Sandy shook his head. “More than this one thing threatens the fate of the galaxy. The galaxy is always at risk, due to the varied life-forms that inhabit it. Where you go is not the biggest threat.”
“Really?” Algar had sure seemed to feel that it was. “How sure are you of this?”
“Sure,” Sandy said firmly.