Far-out Show (9781465735829)

by Hanna, Thomas

  “That’s superstitious nonsense,” Hasley said quickly. He knew that Feedle’s belief in such stuff was known to all and he correctly feared this was a ploy to upset her.

  “Maybe so or maybe there’s something we should have thought more about back when that Ormelexian wise-one-with-visionaries Fetgut warned about what he said he could only describe as peculiars if anyone dared to travel through a snaggiewarp. Many citizens thought his warning sounded scary,” Yelpam said.

  “But the citizens paying attention recognized that wise-one-with-visionaries is only Fetgut’s weekend chore. His day job was as part of the team that designed and built this ship,” Hasley said, eager to get them beyond this subject.

  “I’m only saying that maybe Zipper’s ghost might be as good an explanation as we have for now so maybe somebody should think about ways to placate his memory,” Icetop said. “That seems like a job for those in charge.”

  “Fetgut admitted in an interview about the predictions he made that he was trying to prepare everyone for specific systems on this ship to malfunction since they weren’t properly tested and corrected,” Lacrat said. “Oh, wait. Systems like communications malfunctioning would fit with what he said. Uh, never mind... I guess.”

  “Maybe we should tell Molten to ask whatever is only showing on the sensors as a blur if it’s Zipper’s remnant,” Eroder said in a tone that didn’t reveal how serious he was. “He’s searching right now for whatever that is or to convince himself it’s not anything substantial.”

  * * *

  Molten was indeed moving quietly along a hall at the back of Whizybeam, sweeping the beam of a flashlight around since this area was only dimly lit to conserve energy.

  The secret zerpy that would confusingly be called Minx-Zink if anyone onboard knew its split personality code names, was hovering in the hall doorway of a storage room where it had retreated after its latest periodic check on the status of the ship’s various systems. It was trying hard to phone home its latest readings but since Krinkle’s jammer signals were affecting it along with the ship’s systems it was having problems doing that. If a zerpy could be exasperated this one would have been.

  Then its sensors detected faint sounds nearby. It ran a visual check of its surroundings but found nothing its program identified as an Ormelexian so it remained on standby alert.

  When it detected irregular changes in the lighting it switched on its Prepare to go inactive routine.

  When Molten cautiously approached to see what was protruding a bit from the doorway, the zerpy saw an Ormelexian and reacted as programmed.

  Minx-Zink zipped into the hallway, zagged around Molten – who dodged to avoid it since he had never seen any zerpy act like this before – and scooted down the hall with Molten hurrying to keep it in sight but not in a rush to get close.

  Molten said into his mobile communicator, “Can anyone in the control room see the hall I’m in on visual. Can you see the zerpy I’m following? I need an identifier on the device. It’s unmarked and I don’t recognize even its class. But it’s acting like I didn’t know they could be programmed to act.”

  “I have you and the zerpy in view,” Biccup responded. “It doesn’t respond and identify itself and every zerpy on record to be aboard checks in so this one’s a stranger. I’m attempting a probe scan of its programs but it must have a way to thwart that because all I’m getting is hashed up signal.”

  Finding a spot that suited its programmed preferences, Minx-Zink rose and stuck to the wall close to the ceiling outside the edit room.

  “It has become stationary near the wall,” Molten reported.

  “This is interesting. A part of the interference with our systems just abruptly ended. As if that zerpy were causing it and shut itself down so it stopped,” Biccup said.

  Molten went closer but not too close. He pressed the side of his head against the wall to see the details better. “It seems to be attached to the wall. There’s no space to show it’s only hovering up there near the hall ceiling.”

  “Keep an eye on it. Others are on their way to have a look. It might answer a number of our questions,” Biccup said.

  * * *

  Soon Icetop and Yelpam arrived with a chest full of diagnostic tools. They examined the unknown zerpy first from a distance, then when they were more confident it presented no special threat, up close.

  They found that its exterior wouldn’t allow their standard tools to read its inner programmed secrets. They found it was firmly attached to the wall – and to the main structural beam just under the wall covering. They then found that no tool they had and not even the combined muscular effort of the three of them could dislodge it.

  Standing back to consider this Icetop asked, “Thoughts?”

  “It’s definitely a zerpy from Ormelex,” Molten said. “It must be a late generation design and have features not available in any that were available to most groups at the time we left on this expedition.”

  “Nicely qualified,” Yelpam said. “It’s here and can do things we’ve never seen a zerpy do. That says it has to be an advanced design that was only known to a limited few but not anything impossible. Groups developing zerpies themselves or those with enough money to buy first dibs on the latest and still secret designs would consider it state- of-the-art.”

  “Why did it stop and why rush to this particular spot before it did so?” Molten wondered aloud.

  “My guess is that it was sneaky-sneaked on board to spy on things,” Icetop said. “It’s not listed to be aboard so we weren’t supposed to ever know it was here. It’s plain and if you hadn’t seen it moving you could pass right by it without thinking it was more than a cable junction box on the wall. To keep its secrets, it should shut itself down if anyone discovered it. It would be harder to cover its signals if it were working, and if you can detect its signals you can figure out its programs.”

  Yelpam was thinking that through and now said, “If you wanted to keep its secrets and maybe still be able to use it even after it had been discovered you would need to keep it from being easily taken apart – or ejected from the ship. You’d program it to go to a spot where it could firmly attach itself and grab tight.”

  Molten was following the line of thought. He checked a diagram that he had called up on his handheld communicator. “To discourage anyone from removing it you’d have it attach itself where it could not only get a tight grip but where removing it forcibly would likely badly damage the ship’s superstructure. Like at this spot where major structural beams come together. We’d have to cut out sections of overhead support beams and wall to remove it and who’d be willing to risk going through the rough ride through the snaggiewarp to get home in a ship that much compromised?”

  “Nothing proven but a lot of reasonable possibilities,” Icetop said. “Now we only need a few answers and we can forget this thing starting with, Who put it on board – or who paid them to do that?”

  “Does it just spy and report back or can it take control of the ship’s systems?” Molten said. “Guys putting out what it likely cost to buy the latest still-secret device wouldn’t be content with anything less than ultimate control.”

  “That’s a scary thought but likely true,” Yelpam said. “More questions. How is it holding on so tight? Which leads to, How do we get it to detach without damaging Whizybeam? There has to be a way to make it let go. And what’s it doing that our standard probes can’t penetrate it?”

  “Assuming, and I’m willing to do so, that this is what’s been showing up as the blurs and interference on the ship’s standard security and motion detection systems, it must also have fascinating programs to mess with those,” Molten said.

  “Yeah, it’d need to confuse those to move around undetected in the routinely monitored areas and while tapping into some systems to monitor them,” Yelpam agreed.

  “Which reinforces our guess that it was programmed by guys who knew the layout of the ship and the details of the workings of all its security s
ystems,” Icetop said.

  “Which narrows it down to…” Molten said with a sardonic laugh, “Still several suspect groups.”

  * * *

  A short time later Eroder, Icetop, Molten, Hasley, Feedle, and Lacrat were gathered by the main console in the control room. On the view-screen they could see Yelpam running various tests on the Minx-Zink zerpy that was still in position high on the hallway wall.

  “More questions than answers is never a happy situation but we don’t always get what we want,” Eroder said. “We have a zerpy that we know almost nothing about onboard. What should we do about that?”

  “Svenly and Venrik are reviewing our signals to the home planet to see if they can detect how that zerpy could send information home or receive directives from there without our systems detecting those,” Lacrat reported. “So far there are no clear answers.”

  “When we split it open and pick through its innards maybe we can find a way to convert it for our purposes,” Feedle said. “It could be a route to send disinformation to convince whichever group put it aboard that we’re too valuable to toss aside as the easy solution to their worries.”

  Everyone else except Hasley seemed to find her ideas startling but no one addressed them directly.

  “Unless it’s doing so in a new way that we don’t understand, there’s no evidence that it’s sending any signals,” Eroder said. “We can’t take advantage of what it’s not doing. So far there’s no reason to think we’ll get to pick through its innards any time soon either since we can’t get even a probe signal to penetrate it.”

  “There has to be a way to find out what it can do. What do we have techs on the payroll for?” Feedle asked.

  Eroder snickered and said, “To give you someone who knows more about technical stuff than you do that you can berate to show how much you don’t know, Feedle.”

  Feedle glanced at Hasley to see if he was going to spring to her defense but his expression showed he agreed she was talking nonsense.

  “Do we know for anything like sure that it’s a danger to the ship?” Lacrat asked. “Maybe we can simply ignore it.”

  “It’s unlikely that it’s only for gathering information,” Hasley said. “This is the kind of thing where Feedle has expertise. Would a business group go to the expense and trouble of sneaky-sneaking aboard a zerpy that wouldn’t allow them to take remote control of at least some ship’s systems?”

  “Not a chance. That would go against all the ruthless rules of business,” Feedle answered.

  “Do the calculations. If it’s a danger while it’s aboard then we have to get rid of it. Eject it. Problem solved,” Hasley said.

  “That only leaves the matters of how to eject it and where to eject it to,” Eroder noted with a sad shake of his head.

  “Can’t we spit it out and let it crash on this side of their moon that the inhabitants almost never see?” Lacrat asked.

  “That’ll be an option if we find out how to detach it,” Eroder said. “We’re not supposed to leave behind any technology for the inhabitants to examine but since this zerpy’s not on any list of materials we brought with us it officially sort of doesn’t exist so leaving it behind doesn’t violate the letter of that injunction, only its spirit.”

  “With a self-destruct unit attached and detonated just before it impacted it should be reduced to innocuous pieces that the inhabitants are unlikely to ever notice and definitely couldn’t learn anything useful from,” Hasley said.

  “Or shoot it out so it’ll burn up in their atmosphere,” Feedle said. Her tone made it clear she thought this matter was perfectly obvious.

  “Likely to happen but not guaranteed,” Molten said. “More likely to give them something to reinforce their fears and determination to search for every bit though.”

  “Since there’s still the problem of being able to eject it, let’s agree that if we can do that we’ll do so but aim it to crash onto their moon when and where no flyby devices from the planet are likely to spot the debris - at least until we’re long gone,” Eroder said.

  Everyone else nodded agreement, Feedle with a roll of her eyes and a let’s get on to something important grimace.

  Biccup appeared on a section of the view-screen standing at the podium in the transport room. He said, “I’m ready to try this. There are no instructions I can find for doing this kind of thing but we’ll see if it can happen. I’ve gone through the documentation and I’m reasonably sure it can’t damage the ship’s superstructure or the transport system if it doesn’t work. But again no guarantees.”

  “Why the heck are we paying you if you don’t know how to use the system that’s your specialty?” Feedle shouted.

  “Because at least I know more about it than you do,” Biccup said, letting his irritation show.

  On the screen they saw him silently mutter, then Feedle gave a jerk and grabbed for something to hold on to but didn’t get a hold before she rose a bit into the air and began to fade.

  “Don’t you dare, Biccup!” Hasley shouted.

  Then Hasley gave a jerk and started to rise into the air.

  “Thank you, Biccup. Your test shows that yes, the transporter can grab items on board that aren’t there in that room,” Eroder said.

  Feedle and Hasley were abruptly dropped back onto the floor where they staggered as they recovered their balance.

  “Now try it on the mystery zerpy,” Eroder instructed. Feedle was looking for a fight but Eroder’s look made it clear he had no time for her bile and would deal with her harshly.

  She looked to Hasley for backing but he was obviously shaken by his brief encounter with the transport system he didn’t trust and was focused on the new danger that the result of Biccup’s test presented for himself from now on.

  They all waited as Biccup worked the transport system console. On the other screen area Yelpam was standing back out of the way but aiming a sensor at Minx-Zink.

  Nothing visibly changed.

  Finally Biccup said, “No, it won’t release and this system can’t pry it loose. I can tell you that it’s a magnetic based adhesion but it’s not like anything I can find any reference to in the data we have available.”

  “End the test so you don’t damage the transporter,” Eroder said. “We need that to bring Nerber back.”

  “Or to at least try to,” Biccup said. His image then disappeared from the view-screen.

  “So what are you going to do about that zerpy that’s smarter than a whole crew of techs?” Feedle asked.

  “Live with it for now,” Eroder said. “We’re not thrilled about it but we have some experience going on with what we need to for the present despite some guys or things we’d be happier without.”

  “Is that supposed to mean me?” Feedle angrily demanded.

  “Well yeah,” Eroder said with no hint of apology or intimidation.

  Feedle turned to glare at Hasley, defying him not to defend her. His response was to motion her out of the room.

  She stomped out. He followed her, head down, as he considered what he was going to say and do next.

  When Eroder and Icetop seemed to ignore him Lacrat decided he could comfortably stay here and keep tabs on developments – and avoid the shouting that would be going on elsewhere.

  Eroder brought up Svenly and Venrik in the program edit room on the view-screen. He asked them, “Making any progress in solving the interference problems?”

  “The noise from onboard is gone but there’s still that awful stuff from the planet source,” Venrik said.

  “We only take brief listens every few minutes and watch the dial that shows the reception levels. It goes on but we avoid letting it frazzle our thinking organs,” Svenly said. “It’s ironic that because of that interference we’re imposing the same silence on ourselves as the show’s producers were deliberately subjecting Nerber to. And with some of the same results. We’re confused, angry, and frustrated.”

  “We’ve tried filtering out all but a few frequencies of th
e noise, sending back an echo to mess up the sound originating device, and even activating the system in Wilburps that should destroy other signal generators close to the zerpy. Nothing has worked,” Venrik reported.

  “With no clear signals getting through in either direction that’s not too surprising,” Icetop said. “If we knew our signals were reaching Wilburps and it didn’t respond to the nearby-generator-destruct order I’d have to say, knowing the details of that class of zerpy, either Wilburps been damaged or Nerber knows enough to have manually turned off some of its systems. That would be a most interesting situation.”

  “Keep me informed,” Eroder said and ended the connection with the program edit room.

  Yelpam entered. There was still a view-screen image of the Minx-Zink zerpy in position. He said, “There’s no sign that the thing’s doing anything so I left a security zerpy where it will let us watch the other while I help deal with our on-going mysteries and problems.”

  “What about what Icetop said? Are we underestimating Nerber?” Molten asked. “Could he be a more active part of what’s been happening than we’ve realized?”

  “I had Biccup check the documentation we have available to find out all about Wilburps’s class of zerpies,” Eroder said. “Few who use them know you can manually immobilize one and in that condition it will stop all transmissions although it will receive and store any signals sent to it. Only zerpy techs would be likely to know that – and especially the signal codes to do it.”

  “Is that relevant?” Molten asked to get Eroder to spell out what he was thinking.

  “With the correct code input, the zerpy’s memory program would not only not prompt it to question what happened during such a partial shutdown, it wouldn’t record that shutdown,” Eroder pointed out. “There are several short periods when we have only fritzerish input from Wilburps. No visual, no audio. And no record that it detected those missing periods and at least ran a self-diagnostic unless told to.”

  “So maybe Nerber’s more of a zerpy engineer than we realize and is using Wilburps for his own purposes at times but knows how to hide that from the ship’s monitoring systems,” Molten said.